Ae : 
TWENTIETH |] 
CENTURY 4 

NEW. | 
| TESTAMENT 


PART IIL 








UNIVERSITY 





THE 
TWENTIETH CENTURY 


NEW TESTAMENT 


A TRANSLATION INTO 
MODERN ENGLISH 


Made from the Original Greek 
(Westcott & Hort’s Text) 


IN THREE PARTS 


PART IIIL—THE PASTORAL, PERSONAL, AND 
GENERAL LETTERS; AND THE REVELATION 


New YorK CHICAGO TORONTO 


Fleming H. Revell Company 


Publishers of Evangelical Literature 





Div. S. 


PREFACE. 


Tuis, the Third Part of our work, completes the Twentieth 
Century Version of the New Testament in its tentative form. 

The contents are arranged as regards the Letters in three 
groups—the first consisting of Pastoral Letters, the second of 
Letters addressed to individuals, and the third of Letters to 
Christians in general. The evidence, however, as to their 
date, and in some cases even to their authorship, is so slight 
that, as in Part II., we have not within each group departed 
from the order in which they are presented in the Authorized 
Version, except in one case, in which we have been influenced 
by the marked resemblance between the ‘‘Second Letter of St. 
Peter” and that of ‘‘St. Jude.” The book of the Revelation 
stands by itself at the close of the volume, which appears to be 
its natural and appropriate position. 

The three Parts are published separately. It is not intended 
to issue the work as a whole in its permanent form until it has 
undergone thorough revision. No attempt has yet been made 
to revise the earlier parts, as it has been necessary to devote 
our time and energies to the completion of the whole transla- 
tion before doing so. 

The sale of Parts I. and II. throughout the English-speaking 
world has been most encouraging, and has exceeded our most 
Sanguine expectations. We are grateful for the many letters, 
both appreciative and critical, which have been received, and 
to which we hope shortly to be able to give due consideration. 
We shall be glad to receive criticisms also on the Part we are 
now issuing, with the view of improving it and of bringing the 
whole work up to as high a standard as may be practicable.* 

THE TRANSLATORS. 

November, 1901. 


* Suggestions or criticisms may be sent through the publishers. 


465702 


PREFACE TO PART 


A Translation FEw English-speaking people of to-day have the oppor- 
Maton tunity of reading the Bible in the English of their own 
English. time. In the course of the last hundred years the Bible 

has been translated into the every-day language of the 
natives of most countries, but. the language of our Bible is still the 

English of three hundred years ago. 

The translation now offered to the public had its origin in the 
discovery that the English of the Authorized Version (closely followed 
in that of the Revised Version), though valued by the more educated 
reader for its antique charm, is in many passages difficult for those 
who are less educated, or is even unintelligible to them. The reten- 
tion, too, of a form of English no longer in common use not only 
gives the impression that the contents of the Bible have little to do 
with the life of our own day, but also requires the expenditure of 
much time and labour on the part of those who wish to understand 
or explain it. The Greek used by the New Testament writers was 
not the Classical Greek of some centuries before, but the form of the 
language then spoken. Moreover, the writers represent those whose 
utterances they record as using the words and phrases of ordinary 
conversation. 

We believe that the New Testament will be better understood by 
modern readers if presented in a modern form. In this respect 
the present translation differs altogether in its plan from that of the 
Revised Version of 1881. No attempt is made in that Version to 
translate into the language of our own time. Its authors say: 

** We have faithfully adhered to the rule that the alterations to be introduced should be 


expressed, as far as possible, in the language of the Authorized Version, or of the Versions 
that preceded it.” We have habitually consulted the earlier Versions ; and im our sparing 


introduction of words not found in them, or in the Authorized Version, we have usually 
satisfied ourselves that such words were employed by standard writers of nearly the same 
date.” 


Our constant effort, on the contrary, has been to exclude all words 
-and phrases not used in current English. We have, however, 
followed the modern practice of using an older phraseology in the 
rendering of poetical passages and quotations from the Old Testa- 
ment, and in the language of prayer. 

| Neither a The translation of 1611, known as the “Authorized 
Revision nor Version,” was the outcome of many successive revisions 
a/Paraphrase. of the translation completed by Tyndale in 15 
which was, at least to some extent, founded on that completed by 
Wycliffe about 1380. Further, the last named translation was not 
made from the original Greek, but froma Latin Version. The present 
translation is not a revision of any previous one, but is made directly 
from the Greek. Nor isita paraphrase. A paraphrase might be useful 


PREFACE, 


as a help to the interpretation of the New Testament, but it would 
not be the New Testament itself. Yet, on the other hand, our work 
is more thanaliteral translation. No purely literal rendering can ever 
adequately represent the thoughts conveyed in the idioms of another 
language. In this translation not only every word, but also the 
emphasis placed upon every word, has been carefully weighed, and 
an effort made to give the exact force and meaning in idiomatic 
modern English. 

The Greek Since the publication of the Authorized Version of 

Text. 1611, more than 1,500 manuscripts of the New Testa- 
ment have been discovered or become accessible, and among them 
are the three oldest and most important. The Greek text here trans- 
lated, that of Bishop Westcott and the late Dr. Hort, is mainly 
founded on these oldest manuscripts, and is widely acknowledged to 
be, as Dr. Philip Schaff called it, “the purest Greek text,” and “the 
last and best edition of the Greek Testament.” 

Parallel A large amount of time and care has been expended 

Passages. upon those passages of the gospels which record the 
same or similar events or discourses, in order to show where the 
same or different words have been used. Such passages abound in 
the first three gospels, while in the fourth they are more numerous 
than is commonly supposed. Dr. Westcott writes: 

*« The English reader has a right to expect that he will find in the Revision which is placed in his 
hands a faithful indication of the verbal agreement or difference betwecn the several 
narratives. These afford the clue, often slender and subtle, to the particular meaning of a 
passage.” 

In addition to such help as that here referred to, the English reader 
will be able to study more easily the composition of the gospels, and 
to discern their relation to a common source. This important 
matter was neglected by King James's translators. To the Revisers 
of 1881 the public are indebted for very careful work in this direction, 
in which we have gladly followed and endeavoured to surpass them. 
There are, however, many minute points where such an indication as 
that alluded to by Dr. Westcott seems impossible. 

Quotations _ Phe numerous and important quotations from the 

an Old Testament are in this translation placed in special 

% Borrowed type. In addition to these, a large number of “bor- 

rases- rowed Old Testament phrases,” as Westcott and Hort 
call them, are indicated in the same way. These have been carefully 
compared with the Septuagint, and, where necessary, with the 
original Hebrew, and, in some cases, with the Aramaic versions. 

Passages quoted from the Apocrypha (references to which were form- 

erly given in the Authorized Version, but have been long omitted by 

the printers) are here also indicated. It is believed that the use of a 

different type for all such passages, which siuow how the writers of 

the New Testament often borrowed the language of the Old, will be 
of considerable advantage to the careful student, without embar- 
rassing the ordinary reader. Other quotations are in ordinary type. 

- Proper The names of persons and places we have, as a rule, 

Names. left in the forms with which English readers have been 


465702 


PREFACE, 


made familiar by the Authorized and Revised Versions. Butin the 
case of names which occur in the Old Testament as well as in the 
New, we have reverted, with some exceptions, to the more correct 
Hebrew forms. This principle was partly adopted by the Revisers 
of 1881. 

Rinacdrex We have given measures of space and time, and also 

and Coins. the values of coins, in their nearest English equivalents. 
In estimating the latter, the insufficient amounts usually given in the 
margins of our Bibles, and in popular commentaries, have been 
abandoned. Larger values, which more correctly represent the 
purchasing power of the precious metals in New Testament times, 
have been substituted. 

Brackatad A few passages, numbering fourteen in all, will be 

Passages. found placed between square brackets. These are 
judged by Westcott and Hort “not to have originally formed part of 
the work in which they occur,” but to be “stray relics from the 
Apostolic or sub-Apostolic age.” The three most important of these 
will be found at pages 35 and 197. 

Grderiof the In early times very great variety prevailed in the 

Books. arrangement of the books of the New Testament. The 
order depended partly on their length, partly on the relative import- 
ance of the cities to which they were addressed, still more on the 
different degrees of authority attributed to the writers. The 
“Gospels” were always placed first, and of these the two attributed 
to Apostles usually had the precedence. The position of the “Acts” 
varied somewhat. The “Revelation,” though far from being the 
latest book, was on account of its prophetical character almost always 
placed last. In the middle position came the two groups of Letters, 
one comprising those written to Jewish Christians by the Apostle 
Peter and by the Master’s brothers, James and Jude, together with 
the Letters attributed to John, two of these last being private letters, 
The other group of Letters comprises nine from the Apostle Paul, 
addressed to seven churches in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, and 
four private Letters. The anonymous Letter “to the Hebrews” (other- 
wise entitled “to the Alexandrians”) was added to this group, 
usually at the end of the thirteen. Of these two groups of Letters 
the former had the precedence in Eastern, the latter in Western 
Christendom. Westcott and Hort have followed the order of two 
out of the three oldest Manuscripts. 

It might, at first sight, appear best, in a translation intended 
principally for general readers, to keep to the common order, but 
this would help to perpetuate an arrangement which greatly hinders 
the comprehension of the Pauline Letters, placing, as it does, the 
earlier ones after those written in later years. On the other hand, to 
put the whole of the books in the order of their composition (in 
which the “ Epistle of James” would probably stand at the beginnin 
and the “Gospel according to John” at the end, and in whi 
Historical Books and Letters would be curiously mixed) would be an 
arrangement, not very difficult in the present state of chronological 
learning, but more puzzling than helpful. 


PREFACE. 


It has been thought best, therefore, to retain the usual grouping, 
but to arrange the books contained in each group in chronological 
order, according to the judgement of the best experts. By the 
adoption of this method the reader begins with the “Gospel accord- 
ing to Mark,” the earliest, shortest, and simplest of the gospels, and 
is enabled to trace the new matter introduced by each successive 
Evangelist. When he comes to the Letters, he is enabled to read 
them with reference to the corresponding position of the Christian 
Church, the development of doctrine, and the varying personal 
history of the writers. 

It is probable that our translation will meet with a cold reception 
from many. This was the case with the Authorized Version itself, 
when it first made its appearance. Long after that date, many pre- 
ferred to use the plain and vigorous “Geneva Version,” which, like 
the present translation, was without authority from Church or State. 
Each successive translation, indeed, has been received with some 
amount of distrust by those who have preferred the retention of the 
familiar form of words to an accurate presentation of the meaning 
in more modern language. But, as Bacon asks,“since things alter 
for the worse spontaneously, if they be never altered for the better 
designedly, how is the evil to stop?” 

Our work has extended over many years, in the course of which 
death has deprived us of the help of one of our first, and most valued, 
workers. Undertaken, as a labour of love, by a company of about 
twenty persons, members of various sections of the Christian Church, 
we now commend this translation to the good-will of all English- 
speaking people, and to the blessing of Almighty God. 


THE TRANSLATORS. 
November, 1898. 


NOTE. 


When the Revised Version of 1881 was in progress, it was 
proposed by the present Bishop of Worcester that it should first 
appear in a Tentative Edition, as had been the case with the German 
Revised Bible, so that it might “circulate experimentally for two or 
three years.” The difficulties of this plan appeared to the English 
Revisers to be insurmountable. We, however, have adopted it, and 
issue this edition as a Tentative Edition only. 

All criticisms and suggestions will be welcomed. They should be 
addressed :— 


THE PUBLISHERS 


CONTENTL. 


GROUP I. 


PASTORAL LETTERS. 


THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY. 

I.—Greeting. Chap. 1. 1—2 eve 
TI.—Warning against false Teachers. Chap. 4. 3-1 a 

IlI.—The Apostle’s Thankfulness for his own Place in the 

Ministry. His Charge to Timothy. Chap. 4, 12 

ay —Certain Directions as to Public Worship. Chap. 2 

V.—Qualifications of Church-Officers. Chap. 3... 
VI.—Advice to Timothy as to his Teaching and Conduct. 


Chap. 4 
VII.—Directions concerning Widows, Officers of the Church, 
Slaves. Chaps. §—6,2 ... 
VIII.—Further Warnings against false Teachers. Chap. 6. 3—Io.. 
1X.—Further Directions and Blessing. Chap. 6. 1 eee 


THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY. 
I.—Greeting. Chap. 4. 1—2 i. <a 
IL. —Thanksgiving, Exhortation, and Encouragement, oes 
Chaps. 4. 32 
III.—Warnings and further Exhortations. oa 3—4. 8 
AY; —Personal Messages. Chap. 4, 9—18... : ai 
V.—Farewells and Blessing. Chap. 4, 19—22 . 


THE LETTER TO TITUS. 
I.—Greeting. Chap. 1. 1—4 
II.—The Mission of Titus in Crete ; with Warnings against 
false Teachers. Chap. 14. 5—16 oe es 
III.—Directions about his Teaching. Chaps. 2-38.11 
IV.—Messages and Blessing. Chap. 3. 12 nas 


~ 


GROUP IL 


PERSONAL LETTERS. 


THE LETTER TO PHILEMON. 
I,—Greeting. Verses I—3. 
II.—The Apostle’s requests concerning a run- away Slave. on 

Verses 4—22 


aoe 


III.—Messages and Blessing. Verses 23—25 
SECOND LETTER FROM JOHN 
THIRD LETTER FROM JOHN 


PAGE 


411 
411 
412 
415 
419 


CONTENTS. 


GROUP III. 


GENERAL LETTERS. 


THE LETTER TO HEBREWS. 
I.—The Superiority of the Christ to Angels. Chaps. 1—2_ ... 
II.—The Superiority of the Christian Faith and its High Priest to 
the Mosaic Dispensation and its Priesthood. . 
Chaps. 3—5. 10 
III.—The Parallel between the Priesthood of Melchizedek and the 
Priesthood of the Christ. Chaps. 5. 11—7 : 
IV.—The Realities of Christianity as foreshadowed in the Ritual of 
the Tabernacle. Chaps. 8—10. 18 
V.—Encouragement and Warning based on the previous Teaching. 
Chap. 10. 19 
VI.—Faith, and what it has enabled Men to do. Chap. 11 ae 
VII.—The Need for Endurance, and the Purpose of Discipline. 
Chap. 12. 13 
VIII.—Exhortations and Warnings. Chap. 12. 14—13. 7. 
IX.—An Appeal to the Example of Jesus. Chap. 13, 816 
X.—Farewell Requests and Blessings. Chap. 13.17 ... a 


THE LETTER FROM JAMES. 

I.—Greeting and sundry Instructions. Chap. 1.. aes 
II.—The Treatment of Rich and Poor. Chap. 2. rash 
III.—The Connexion between Faith and Conduct. cep: 2. 14 
es —Warnings against certain Faults. Chaps. 3—5.6 ... 

V.—Concluding Exhortations. Chap. 5. 7 


THE FIRST LETTER FROM JOHN. 
I.—Introduction. Chap. 4. 1—4 ... 
Il.—The Apostle’s Message. Chaps. 4. 5—2. 17. 
III.—Warnings against Anti-Christs. Chap. 2. 18.. = 
TV.—The Privileges and Duties of the Sons of God. Chap. 3 
V.—True and false Inspiration contrasted. Chap. 4. I—6 
VI.— Love of God and Love of Man. Chap. 4 7... nc 
VI1.—Christian Love, Faith, and Life. Chap. 5 


THE FIRST LETTER FROM PETER. 
I.—Greeting. Chap. 1. 1—2 : 
II.—Christian Salvation. Chap. 1. peer oct 
III.—Practical Exhortation. Chaps. 4. 134. II 
ae —Christians must be prepared for Suffering. Chap. 4, 12—19 
V.—Special and General Exhortations. Chap. 5, I—II : 
VI.—Messages and Blessing. Chap. 5. 12—14 


THE SECOND LETTER FROM PETER. 
I.—Greeting and Exhortation. Chap. 4. I—I1 ... 
IIl.—The Transfiguration a Ground for the Assertion of the 
‘Second Coming’ of the Christ. Chap. 4. 12—21 , 
III.—Warning against the Separation of Christianity from holy 
Living. Chap. 2,1—22 ... 
IV.—A Re-Assertion of the ‘Second Coming’ “of the Christ. 
Chap. 3 


474 


CONTENTS, 


THE LETTER FROM JUDE. 
I.—Greeting. Verses 1—2.. ee 
II.—Warnings against the moral Corruption introduced by false 
Teachers. Verses 3—23 ... 
III.—Ascription. Verses 24—25 ... aes ose one vee 


THE REVELATION. 


I.—Introduction. Chap. 4. 1—3.. 

II. —Messages to the core Churches. Chaps. : te i 22 ee 
III.—The Vision of the Seven Seals. Chaps. 4. 1—7. 17... wee 
IV.—The Vision of the Seven Trumpet-Blasts aug 

Chaps. 8. 2—44. 19 


V.—A Vision of Seven Symbolical Figures. Chaps. 12. 1—414. 20 
VI.—The Vision of the Seven Curses, Chaps. 15.1—16.21 ... 
VII.—The Doom of the Christ’s Enemies. Chaps. 17. wie ae 
VIII.—The New Creation. Chaps. 24.1—22.5 ... 
IX.—Conclusion. Chap, 22. 6—21 “ee 


GROUP I. 


PASTORAL LETTERS. 


THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY. 
THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY. 
THE LETTER TO TITUS. 


he re 





TO TIMOTHY—I. 


THE FIRST LETTER Sie 
TIMOTHY. 


[DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING UNCERTAIN, ] 


NOTHING is known with any certainty as to the history 
either of this or of the other two ‘ Pastoral Letters.’ 

Timothy, to whom this and the next letter are addressed, 
was the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother, and was 
converted by St. Paul from Judaism to Christianity. He 
lived at Lystra in Asia Minor (Acts 16. 1—4); he joined St. Paul 
on his second missionary journey ; and, according to this 
Letter, he was placed by the Apostle in charge of some Church. 
Tradition says that it was the Church at Ephesus. 

The object of this Letter is to encourage the young and 
timid Officer of the Church in the discharge of his duties. 


TO 
TIMOTH Y—I, 


I.—GREETING. 


To Timothy, his true Child in the Faith, 

From Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the appointment of 
God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our Hope. 

May God, our Father, and Christ Jesus, our Lord, bless you, 
and be merciful to you, and give you peace. 


II.— WARNING AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS. 


I beg you, as I did when I was on my way into Macedonia, 
to remain at Ephesus; for I want you to instruct certain 
people there not to teach new and strange doctrines, nor to 
devote their attention to legends and interminable genealogies. 
Such subjects do far more towards promoting discussions 
than towards furthering the divine method which is taught by 
the Faith. The aim of all your instruction must be to call 
forth the love which is born of a pure heart, of a clear con- 
science, and of a sincere faith. It is because certain people 
have failed to attain these things that their attention has been 
diverted to frivolous subjects. Their idea is to be Teachers 
of the Law, but they do not understand either the words they 
use or the subjects on which they speak so confidently. 

We know, of course, that the Law is excellent, if 
legitimately used. For every one must know that laws were 
not made for good men, but for the lawless and disorderly, 
for irreligious and wicked people, for those who are irreverent 
and profane, for those who illtreat their fathers or mothers, 
for murderers, for the immoral, for people guilty of sodomy, 
for slave-dealers, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other 
practice opposed to the sound Christian teaching with which I 
have been entrusted. And the glorious revelation of the ever- 
blessed God in the Good News is in agreement with this. 


I, 2 


10 


tl 


386 I. TIMOTHY, 1—2. 


III.—TuHE ApostLe’s THANKFULNESS FOR HIS OWN PLACE 
IN THE MINISTRY, AND HIS CHARGE TO TIMOTHY. 


I am deeply grateful to Christ Jesus, our Lord, the source of 
my strength, for showing, by giving me a place in his service, 
that he thought me worthy of trust, though I once used to 
blaspheme, persecute, and insult him. But yet mercy was 
shown me because I had acted in ignorance, while still an un- 
believer. There was no limit to our Lord’s goodness to me; 
and it filled me with faith, and with the love that Christ Jesus 
inspires. How true, and how worthy of the fullest accep- 
tance, are the words—‘ Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners’! And there is no greater sinner thanI! Yet 
mercy was shown me for the express purpose that Christ 
Jesus might exhibit in his dealings with me, the worst of 
sinners, his boundless patience, as a pattern for those who 
were afterwards to believe on him and so attain to enduring 
Life. To the Eternal King, immortal, invisible, the 
one God, be ascribed honour and glory for ever and ever. 
Amen. 

This, then, is the charge that I lay upon you, Timothy, my 
Child—and it accords with what was predicted of you—Fight 
the good fight in the spirit of those predictions, with faith, 
and with a clear conscience. It is because they have dis- 
carded this, that, as far as the Faith is concerned, some have 
wrecked their lives. Hymenaeus and Alexander are instances 
—the men whom I handed over to Satan, so that they might 
be taught not to blaspheme. 


IV.—CERTAIN DIRECTIONS AS TO PUBLIC WORSHIP. 


First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, 
and thanksgivings should be offered for every one, especially 
for kings and all who are in high positions, in order that we 
may lead a quiet and peaceful life in a truly religious and 
earnest spirit. This will be good and acceptable in the eyes of 
God, our Saviour, whose wish is that every one should be 
saved, and attain to a thorough knowledge of the Truth. 

There is only one God, and only one mediator 
between God and men—the man, Christ Jesus, who gave 
himself as a ransom on behalf of all men. This is the fact 
. to which we are to bear our testimony, as opportunities present 
themselves ; and it was for this that I was myself appointed a 
Herald and an Apostle (I am telling the simple truth and no 
lie)—to be a true and faithful Teacher of the heathen. 

y desire, then, is that it should be the custom everywhere 
for the men to lead the prayers, with hands reverently uplifted, 


12 


13 


14 
15 
16 


17 


18 
19 


20 


iS 


oun Bw 


I, TIMOTHY, 3. 387 


avoiding angry discussions. I also desire that women 
should make themselves attractive by their discreet, quiet, and 
modest dress. They should not indulge in wreaths or gold 
ornaments for the hair, or in pearls, or expensive clothes, but 
—as is proper for women who profess to be religious—they 
should make themselves attractive by their good actions. 

Women should listen quietly to their teachers, and 
always show them deference. I do not consent to women 
becoming teachers, or exercising authority over men; they 
ought to be quiet. It was Adam who was formed first, not 
Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived ; it was the 
woman who was so completely deceived that she fell into sin. 
But women will find their salvation in motherhood, if they 
never abandon faith, love, or holiness, and continue to 
behave with modesty. This teaching is reliable. 


V.—QUALIFICATIONS OF CHURCH OFFICERS. 


Any one whoaspires to be a Presiding-Officer in the Church is 
ambitious for a noble task. The Presiding-Officer should be a 
man of blameless character ; he should have been only once 
married ; he should live a sober, discreet, and well-ordered 
life ; he should be hospitable, and skilful in teaching, and nota 
man addicted to drink or brawling, but of a forbearing and 
peaceable disposition, and not a lover of money ; he should be 
aman who rules his own household well, and whose children 
are kept under control and are thoroughly well-behaved. If 
a man does not know how to rule his own household, how can 
he take charge of the Church of God? The Presiding-Officer 
must not be arecent convert, for fear he should be blinded by 
pride and fall under the same condemnation as the Devil. He 
must also be well spoken of by outsiders, for fear he should 
incur censure and so fall into the snares laid by the Devil. 

So, too, Assistant-Officers should be serious and 
straightforward men, not given to taking much drink or to 
questionable money-making, but men who hold the deeper 
truths of the Faith and have a clear conscience. They should 
be tested first, and only appointed to their Office if no 
objection is raised against them. It should be the same with 
women. They should be serious, and not gossips ; they should 
be sober and trustworthy in all respects. Assistant-Officers 
should not have been more than once married, and should be 
men who rule their children and their households well. 
Those who have filled that post with honour gain for them- 
selves an honourable position, as well as great confidence 
through the faith that they place in Christ Jesus. 

I am writing this to you, though I hope that I shall come to 
see you before long ; but in case I should be delayed, I want 


Io 


NA 


14 
15 


888 BL. TIMOTHY, 3—4. 


you to know what your conduct ought to be in the Household 
God—I mean the Church of the Living God, the pillar and 
basis of the Truth. Yes, and confessedly the deep truths of 16 
our religion are wonderful ; for— 
“ He was revealed in our nature, 
He was proved Sane in spirit, 
He was beheld by angels, 
He was proclaimed among the heathen, 
He was believed on in the world, 
He was taken up into glory.” 


VI.ADVICE To TIMOTHY AS TO HIS TEACHING AND 
CONDUCT. 


But the Spirit distinctly says that in later times there will be 
some who will fall away from the Faith. They will give their 
attention to misleading spirits, and to the teaching of evil 
beings who will make use of the hypocrisy of lying teachers. 
These men’s consciences are seared, and they discourage 
marriage and enjoin abstinence from certain kinds of food, 
Yet God created these foods to be enjoyed thankfully by those 
who have accepted the Faith and are fully acquainted with 
the Truth. Everything created by God is good, and thereis 4 
nothing that need be rejected—provided only that it is received 
thankfully ; for it is consecrated by God’s blessing and by 5 

rayer. 

Put all this before the Brethren, and you will be a worthy 
servant of Christ Jesus, and will find your nourishment in the 
precepts of the Faith and of that excellent Teaching by which 
you have guided your life. As for profane legends and old 7 
wives’ tales, leave them alone. Train yourself to lead a 
religious life ; for while training of the body is of service in 
some directions, religion is of service in all, carrying with it, as 
it does, a promise of Life both here and hereafter. (This 
teaching is reliable and is worthy of the fullest acceptance.) 
It is for this that we toil and struggle, for we have setourhopes 10 
on the Living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially 
of those who accept the Faith. 


ro) 
& 


wh 


oO 


eo 


Dwell upon these things in your teaching. Donotletany 11,12 
one look down on you because you are young, but be an 
example to those who accept the Faith by your conversation, 
your conduct, your love, your faith, and your purity. TillI 13 
come, apply yourself to public reading, preaching, and teach- 
ing. Do not neglect the divine gift within you, which was 14 

iven you, in fulfilment of the predictions, when the hands of 
the Officers of the Church were laid on your head. Practise 15 
these things, devote yourself to them, so that your progress 


I. TIMOTHY, 4—5. 389 


may be obvious to every one. Look to yourself as well as to 
your teaching. Persevere in this, for your doing so will mean 
Salvation for yourself as well as for your hearers. 


VII.—DIRECTIONS CONCERNING WIDOWS, OFFICERS OF THE 
CHURCH, AND OTHERS, 


Do not reprimand a man older than yourself, but plead with 

him as if he were your father. Treat young men as brothers, 
older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters— 
always with purity. Show regard for widows—I mean 
those who are really widows. But when a widow has 
children or grand-children, let them learn to show proper 
regard for the members of their own family first, and to make 
some return to their parents; for that is pleasing in God’s 
sight. As for the woman who is really a widow and is left 
quite alone, her hopes are fixed on God, and she devotes 
herself to prayers and supplications night and day. But the 
life of a widow who is devoted to pleasure is a living death. 
Those are the points on which you should dwell, that there may 
be no call for your censure. Any one who fails to provide for his 
own relations, and especially for those under his own roof, has 
disowned the Faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 
A widow, when her name is added to the list, should not be 
less than sixty years old. She should have been only once 
married, and should be well spoken of for her kind actions. 
By this I mean that she should have brought up children, or 
have shown hospitality to strangers, or have washed the feet 
of her fellow-Christians, or have relieved those who were in 
distress, or have been always ready for any good action. But 
you should exclude the younger widows from the list; for 
when they grow restive under the yoke of the Christ, they 
want to marry, and so they bring condemnation upon themselves 
for having broken their previous promise. And not only that, 
but they go about from house to house, and so learn to be idle. 
Nor are they merely idle, but they also become gossips 
and busy-bodies, and talk of what they ought not. There- 
fore I advise young widows to marry, bear children, 
attend to their homes, and avoid giving our opponents an 
opportunity for scandal. There are, alas, some who have 
already left us, to follow Satan. Any Christian woman, who 
has relations who are widows, ought to relieve them and 
not allow them to become a ‘burden to the Church, so 
that the Church may relieve those widows who are really 
desolate. 

Those Officers of the Church who fill their office well should 
be held deserving of especial esteem, particularly those whose 


16 


Cosy nm 


10 


II 


17 


390 I. TIMOTHY, 5—6. 


work lies in preaching and teaching. The words of Scripture 
are—‘ Thou shalt not muzzle a bullock while it is treading out the 
grain, and again— The worker is worth his wages.’ Do not 
receive a charge against an Officer of the Church, unless it is 
supported by two or three witnesses. Rebuke offenders publicly, 
so that others may take warning. I charge you solemnly, 
before God and Christ Jesus and the Chosen Angels, to carry 
out these directions uninfluenced by prejudice, and never to 
act with partiality. Never ordain any one hastily, and 
take no part in the wrong-doings of others. Keep your life 
untarnished. Do not continue to drink nothing but 
water, but take a little wine on account of the weakness of 
your stomach and your frequent ailments. There are 
some men whose sins are Conspicuous and pave the way for 
their judgement, while there are others whose sins dog 
their steps. So, again, noble actions will become conspicuous, 
and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed. 

All who are in the position of slaves should regard their 
masters as deserving of the greatest respect, so that the Name 
of God, and our Teaching, may not be maligned. Those 
who have Christian masters should not think less of them 
because they are Brothers. On the contrary, the service they 
give should be all the better, because those who are to benefit 
by it are dear to them as fellow-Christians. 


VIII.— FURTHER WARNINGS AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS. 


Those are the things to teach and insist on. Any one who 
teaches otherwise, and refuses his assent to such sound instruc- 
tion—which is really that of our Master, Jesus Christ—and to 
the teachings of religion, is puffed up with conceit, though 
really he is utterly ignorant. He has, besides, a morbid craving 
for discussions and arguments. These, however, only give 
rise to envy, quarrelling, recriminations, base suspicions, and 
incessant wrangling on the part of these corrupt-minded 
people who have lost all hold on the Truth, and who think 
of religion only as a source of gain. And a great source of 
gain religion is, bringing, as it does, contentment with it 
It is clear that we brought nothing into the world, for we 
cannot even carry anything out of it! So, as we have food 
and shelter, we will be content. Those who want to be rich 
fall into the snares of temptation, and become the prey of 
many foolish and harmful ambitions, which plunge people into 
Destruction and Ruin. Love of money is a source of all 
kinds of evil; and in their eagerness to be rich some have 
wandered away from the Faith, and have been pierced to the 
heart by many a regret. , : 

18 Deut. 25.4. 19 Deut. 19.15. ° 


1a 


I, TIMOTHY, 6. 394 


IX.—FURTHER DIRECTIONS AND BLESSING. 


But you, Servant of God, must avoid all this. You must 
aim at righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, and gentle- 
ness. Run the great race of the Faith, and gain the enduring 
Life. It was for this that you received the Call, and for this 
that, in the presence of many witnesses, you made your great 
profession of Faith. I urge you, as in the sight of God, the 
source of all life, and of Christ Jesus who before Pontius 
Pilate made his great profession of Faith—I urge you to 
keep: his Command, free from stain or reproach, until the 
Appearance of Jesus Christ, our Lord. This will be brought 
about in his own time by the one ever-blessed Potentate, the 
King of all kings and Lord of all lords, who alone is possessed 
of immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no 
mortal has ever seen or ever can see, and to whom be ascribed 
honour and power for ever. Amen. 

Urge those who are wealthy in this life not to pride 
themselves, or fix their hopes, on such an uncertain thing 
as wealth, but on God, who gives us a wealth of enjoy- 
ment on every side. Urge them to show kindness, to exhibit 
a wealth of good actions, to be open-handed and generous, 
and so to store up what in the future will prove to be a good 
foundation, in order that they may gain the only true Life. 

Pray, Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Turn 
your back on the profane prattle and contradictions of what 
some miscall ‘ theology, for some people, while asserting their 
proficiency in it, have yet, in the matter of the Faith, gone 
altogether astray. 


God bless you all. 


II 


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TO TIMOTHY—IL 


THE SECOND LETTER TO 
TIMOTHY. 


[DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING UNCERTAIN. ] 


Wuat has been said as to the history of the first of these 
two “ Letters to Timothy ” applies equally to this, 

This Letter contains warnings against false Teachers, and 
exhortations to an earnest discharge of duty. It is supposed 
to be the last extant letter written by St. Paul. 


TO 


TIMOTH Y—II. 


I.—GREETING. 


To Timothy, his dear Child, 
FroM Paul who, by God’s will, is an Apostle of Christ Jesus 
to proclaim the Life that is found in union with Christ 
esus. 
May Gad, our Father, and Christ Jesus, our Lord, bless you, 
and be merciful to you, and give you peace. 


II.—THANKSGIVING, EXHORTATION, AND ENCOURAGEMENT. 


I am full of thankfulness to God, whom I serve, as my 
ancestors did, with a clear conscience, when I remember you, 
as I regularly do, in my prayers. Night and day alike, as I 
think of your tears, I long to see you, so that my happiness 
may be complete. I recall the sincere faith you have shown 
—a faith which was seen first in your grandmother Lois and 
your mother Eunice, and is now, I am convinced, in you also. 
This is my reason for reminding you to stir into flame that 
gift of God, which has been yours since your ordination at 
my hands. The Spirit which God gave us was not to inspire 
us with cowardice, but with power, love, and self-control. Do 
not, therefore, be ashamed of the testimony which we have to 
bear for our Master, nor yet of me who am a prisoner for 
him ; but join with me in suffering for the Good News, as far 
as God enables you. It was God who saved us, and from 
him we received our solemn Call—not as a reward for any- 
thing that we had done, but in fulfilment of his own merciful 
purposes. God’s mercy was extended to us, through Christ 
Jesus, before time began, and has now been made apparent 
through the Appearance of our Saviour, Christ Jesus. He has 
made an end of Death, and has brought Life and Immortality 
to light by means of the Good News, of which I was myself 


CoM] 


Io 


It 


396 Il. TIMOTHY, 1—2. 


appointed a Herald, Apostle, and Teacher. That is why I am 
undergoing what I am; yet I feel no shame, for I know in 
whom I have put my faith, and I am convinced that he is able 
to Bpard what I have entrusted to him until Zhat Day, Keep 
before you, as an example of sound teaching, all that you 
learnt from me as you listened in a spirit of faith and 
Christian love. Guard by the help of the holy Spirit, who is 
within us, the glorious trust that has been committed to you. 

You know, of course, that all our friends in Roman Asia 
turned their backs on me, and among them Phygellus and 
Hermogenes. May the Lord show mercy to the household of 
Onesiphorus ; for he often cheered me and was never ashamed 
of my being a prisoner. On the contrary, when he arrived at 
Rome, he sought for me till he found me. The Lord t that 
he may find mercy at the hands of the Lord on Day. 
The many services that he rendered me at Ephesus you have 
the best means of knowing. 


You then, my Child, must find your strength in the help 
which comes through Christ Jesus. What you learnt from 
me, in the presence of many listeners, you must pass on to 
trustworthy people, who will be able in their turn to teach 
others. Take your share of hardships with me, as a true 
soldier of Christ Jesus. A soldier on active service, in his 
desire to please his superior officer, always avoids entangling 
himself in the affairs of ordinary life. A competitor in 
athletic sports is not awarded the wreath of victory unless he 
has observed the rules. The labourer who does the work 
ought to be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect 
upon what I say; the Lord will always help you to under- 
stand. Think of Jesus Christ as raised from the dead, a 
descendant of David, as is told in the Good News entrusted to 
me. In the spreading of this Good News I am eerie 
hardships ; I am even put in fetters as if I were a crimi 
But for all that, God’s Message is not fettered; and that is 
why I submit to anything for the sake of those whom God 
has chosen. My hope is that they also may obtain the 
Salvation which comes through Christ Jesus, and a glory 
which will endure. How true are the words—‘ As we have 
shared his death, we shall also share his life. If we 
continue to endure, we shall also share his throne. If we 
should ever disown him, he, too, will disown us. If we lose 
our trust, he is still to be trusted, for he cannot be false to 
himself !’ 

Remind people of these truths ; urge them solemnly, as in 
the sight of God, to avoid controversy. It is a useless thing 
and is the ruin of those who listen to it. Make it your ambi- 
tion to win God’s approval, as a worker not ashamed of his 


2—18 Jsa, 2. 11. 


12 


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13 


14 
15 


II. TIMOTHY, 2—38. 397 


work, accurate in delivering the Message of the Truth. Avoid 
profane prattle. People who indulge in it only get deeper 
into irreligious ways, and their teaching will spread like a 
cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are instances. They have 
gone completely astray as far as the Truth is concerned. 
They say that a resurrection has already taken place, and so 
are upsetting some people’s faith. Yet God’s firm foundation 
still stands unmoved, and it bears this inscription—‘ Zhe Lord 
knows those who are his’; and again—‘ All who use the Name of 
the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’ Now in a large 
house there are not only articles of gold and silver, but also 
others of wood or earthenware, some for more honourable 
and some for less honourable purposes. If, then, a man has 
escaped from the pollution of such things as I have mentioned, 
he will be like an article devoted to the more honourable 
purposes and set apart for them—an article serviceable to its 
owner and ready for any good use. Flee from the passions of 
youth, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, in the 
company of those who, with a pure heart, invoke the Lord. 
Shun foolish and puerile discussions, for you know that they 
only breed quarrels ; and a Servant of the Lord should never 
quarrel. He ought, on the contrary, to be courteous to every 
one, skilful in teaching, and forbearing. He should instruct 
all opponents in a gentle spirit; for, possibly, God may 
give them a repentance that will result in a fuller knowledge 
of Truth, and they may yet come to a sober mind, and escape 
from the snares laid by the Devil, when captured by the Lord’s 
Servant for the service of God. 


II].—WARNINGS AND FURTHER EXHORTATIONS. 


Be sure of this, that in the last days difficult times will 
come. People will be selfish, mercenary, boastful, haughty, 
and blasphemous. They will be disobedient to their parents. 
They will be ungrateful, impure, incapable of affection, merci- 
less, slanderous, wanting in self-control, brutal, careless of the 
right, treacherous, reckless, and puffed up with pride. They 
will love pleasure more than they love God ; and while they 
retain the outward form of religion, they will refuse to allow it 
to influence them. Turn your back on such men as these. 
For among them are to be found those who creep into homes 
and captivate weak women—women who, loaded with sins, 
and slaves to all kinds of passions, are always learning, and 
yet are never able to attain to a full knowledge of the Truth. 
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these people, 
in their turn, oppose the Truth. Their minds are corrupted, 
and, as regards the Faith, they are utterly unsatisfactory. 

19 Num. 16. 5; Isa, 26. 13. 


19 


20 


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22 


23 
24 


25 


26 


Re 


apt W 


398 Il. TIMOTHY, 3—4 


They will not, however, make very much progress ; for their 
wicked folly will be plain to every one, just as that of Jannes 
and Jambres was. But you, Timothy, were a close 
observer of my teaching, my conduct, my purposes, my faith, 
my forbearance, my love, and my patient endurance, as well as 
of my persecutions and of the sufferings which I met with at 
Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. You know what persecutions 
I went through; and yet the Lord brought me safe out of 
them all! Yes, and all those who aim at living a religious 
and Christian life will have to undergo persecution; while 
wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, 
deceiving others and deceived themselves. But you, Timothy, 
must stand by what you have learnt and accepted as true. 
You know who they were from whom you learnt it ; and you 
know that from your childhood, you have known the Sacred 
Writings, which can give you the wisdom that, through belief 
in Christ Jesus, leads to Salvation. Everything that is written 
under divine inspiration is helpful for teaching, for refuting 
error, for giving guidance, and for training others in the path 
of duty; so that a godlike man may be perfect himself, and 
perfectly equipped for every good action. 

I solemnly charge you, in the sight of God and of Christ 
Jesus, who will one day judge the living and the dead—I 
charge you by his Coming and by his Kingdom :—Proclaim the 
Message, be ready in season and out of season, convince, 
rebuke, encourage, always willing to make allowances and to 
impart instruction. For a time will come when people will 
not tolerate sound teaching. They will follow their own 
wishes, and procure themselves a crowd of teachers, in their 
itching for novelty. They will turn a deaf ear to the Truth, 
and give their attention to legends instead. But you, 
Timothy, must always be temperate. Face hardships ; do the 
work of a Missionary; discharge all the duties of your 
Office. 

As for myself, my blood is being shed already ; the time of 
my departure is close at hand. I have run the great Race, I 
have completed the Course, I have preserved the Faith. And 
now the wreath awaits me, the reward for righteousness, 
which the Lord, the just Judge, will give me on Zhat Day— 
and not only to me, but to all who have loved his Appearing. 


IV.—PERSONAL MESSAGES. 


Do your best to come to me soon; for Demas, in his 
‘love for the world, has deserted me. He has gone to 
Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 
There is no one but Luke with me. Pick up Mark on 

8 Isa, 2. 116 


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Ir 


Il. TIMOTHY, 4% 399 


your way, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me 
in my work. I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. Bring with 
you, when you come, the cloak which I left at Troas with 
Carpus, and the books as well, especially the parchments. 
Alexander, the coppersmith, showed much ill-feeling 
towards me. TZhe Lord will give him what his actions deserve. 
You, also, must be on your guard against him, for he is 
strongly opposed to our teaching. At my first trial 
no one stood by me. They all deserted me. May it never be 
counted against them! But the Lord came to my help and 
strengthened me, in order that, through me, the proclamation 
should be made so widely that all the heathen should hear it ; 
and I was rescued out of the Lion’s mouth. The Lord will 
rescue me from all evil, and bring me safe into his Heavenly 
Kingdom. All glory to him for ever and ever! Amen. 


V.—FAREWELLS AND BLESSING. 


Give my good wishes to Prisca and Aquila, and to the 
household of Onesiphorus. 

Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus ill at 
Miletus. Do your best to come before winter. 

Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia send you their good 
wishes, and so do all our Brothers. 


May the Lord be with your spirit. God bless you all. 


14 Ps. 62.12; Prov. 24.12. 17 Ps. 22. 21. 


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£0: (MEGS: 


THE LETTER TO TITGS 


[DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING UNCERTAIN. ] 


NOTHING is known as to the history of this Letter. 

Titus, to whom it is addressed, was a heathen by birth, but, 
after his conversion, became a companion of St. Paul on 
his Missionary Journeys, and often served as his Messenger. 
According to this Letter, he was placed by the Apostle in 
charge of the Church in the island of Crete. 


TO 
UT LES. 





1.—GREETING. 


To Titus, his true Child‘in their one Faith, 

From Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, 
appointed to strengthen the faith of God’s Chosen People, 
and to extend the knowledge of the Truth—the Truth which 
makes for godliness, and which rests on the anticipation of 
enduring Life. This Life, God, who never lies, promised 
before time began ; and he has revealed it at the proper 
time in his Message, with the proclamation of which I 
have been entrusted by the command of God our Saviour. 

May God, our Father, and Christ Jesus, our Saviour, bless you 
and give you peace. 


II.—TuHE Mission oF TiTUS IN CRETE, WITH WARNINGS 
AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS. 


My reason for leaving youin Crete was that you might putin 
order what had been left unsettled, and appoint Officers of the 
Church in the various towns, as I myself directed you. They 
are to be men of irreproachable character, who have only 
been married once, whose children are Christians and have 
never been charged with dissolute or unruly conduct. For 
a Presiding-Officer, as God’s steward, ought to be a man 
of irreproachable character. He should not be self-willed 
or quick-tempered, nor addicted to drink or to brawling or 
to questionable money-making. On the contrary, he should 
be hospitable, eager for the right, discreet, upright, a man of 
holy life and capable of self-restraint. He should be one 
who adheres to instruction that can be relied on as in 
accordance with Christian teaching ; for he must be able to 
encourage others by sound teaching, as well as to refute 
Opponents. 

_ There are, indeed, plenty of unruly persons—great talkers 


10 


404 TITUS, 1—2. 


who deceive themselves. They belong principally to those 
who hold to circumcision, and their mouths ought to be 
stopped ; for they upset whole households by teaching what 
they ought not to teach, merely to make questionable gains, 
It was a Cretan—one of their own teachers—who said : 


**Cretans are always liars, base brutes, and gluttonous idlers ” ; 


and his statement is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so 
that they may be sound in the Faith, and may pay no attention 
to Jewish legends, or to the directions of people who turn their 
backs upon the Truth. To the pure-minded everything is 
pure, but nothing is pure to filthy-minded and unbelieving 
people. Their minds and consciences are alike filthy. They 
profess to know God, but by their actions they disown him. 
They are degraded and self-willed; and as far as anything 
good is concerned they are utterly unsatisfactory. 


III.—DIRECTIONS ABOUT HIS TEACHING. 


But you, Titus, must speak of such subjects as properly 
have a place in sound Christian teaching. You should 
teach that the older men should be temperate, serious, and 
discreet; and that they should keep their faith, love, and 
endurance in full vigour. So, too, that the older women should 
be reverent in their demeanour, and that they should avoid 
scandal, and beware of becoming slaves to drink. You 
should impress upon them to teach others what is right, so 
as to train the younger women to love their husbands and 
children, and to be discreet, pure-minded, domesticated, good 
women, ready to submit to their husbands, in order that 
God’s Message may not be maligned. And so again with the 
younger men—impress upon them the need of discretion. 
Above all, be yourself an example of practical goodness. 
Show sincerity in your teaching and a serious spirit ; let the 
instruction you give be sound and above reproach, so that the 
enemy may be ashamed when he fails to find anything bad to 
say about us. Urge slaves to be submissive to their owners 
under all circumstances, and to try their best to please them. 
Tell them not to contradict or pilfer, but to show such praise- 
worthy fidelity in everything as to recommend the teaching 
about God our Saviour by all that they do. 

For God’s mercy has been revealed, and has brought with 
it Salvation for all; it leads us to renounce irreligious ways 
and worldly ambitions, and to live discreet, upright, and 
religious lives here in this present world, while we are 
awaiting the fulfilment of our blissful hopes in the revelation 
of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus. For 

12 Epimenides—‘ Oracles.’ 


It 


12 
13 
14 
15 
16 


TITUS, 2-3. 405 


he gave himself on our behalf, to deliver us from all wicked- 
ness, and to purify for himself a People who should be 
peculiarly his own and eager to do good. 

These are the truths about which you should speak, and on 
which you should insist, and you must use them to refute 
opponents with absolute authority. Do not let any one despise 
you. Remind your hearers to show respect to, and to 
obey, existing Authorities, to be ready for every kind of good 
work, to speak ill of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be for- 
bearing, and under all circumstances to show a gentle spirit in 
dealing with others, whoever they may be. There was, you 
remember, a time when we ourselves were foolish, disobedient, 
misled, and slaves to all kinds of passions and vices. We, 
detested ourselves and hating one another, lived in an atmos- 
phere of malice and envy. But when the kindness of God our 
Saviour and his love for man were revealed, he saved us, notin 
consequence of any righteous actions we had done, but in the 
execution of his merciful purposes, by that Washing which 
was a New Birth to us, and by the renovating power of the 
holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us abundantly 
through Jesus Christ our Saviour. For his intention was that, 
when by his gracious help we should stand right with him, we 
should, in the fulfilment of our hopes, become possessors of 
enduring Life. This teaching is reliable, and it is on 
these subjects that I desire you to lay especial stress, so that 
those who have learnt to trust in God may be careful to devote 
themselves to doing good. Such subjects are excellent 
in themselves and of service to mankind. But have nothing 
to do with foolish discussions, or with genealogies, or with 
disputes about the Law, or controversy. They are useless and 
unsatisfactory. If aman is causing divisions among you, after 
warning him once or twice, have nothing more to say to him, 
You may be sure that such a man has forsaken the Truth and 
is in the wrong ; he stands self-condemned. 


IV.—FAREWELL MESSAGES AND BLESSING, 


As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, join meas 
quickly as possible at Nicopolis, for I have arranged to spend 
the winter there. Do your best to help Zenas, the Teacher of 
the Law, and Apollos, on their way, and see that they want 
for nothing. Let all our People learn to devote them- 
selves to doing good, in order to meet the most pressing 
needs, so that their lives may not be barren of results. 


All with me here send you their good wishes. Give 
my good wishes to our Christian friends. 


God bless you all. 


15 


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GROUP II. 


PERSONAL LETTERS. 


THE LETTER TO PHILEMON. 
THE SECOND LETTER FROM JOHN. 
THE THIRD LETTER FROM JOHN. 





TO PHILEMON. 


ST. PAUL'S LETTER TO PHILEMON. 


WRITTEN EITHER FROM ROME OR FROM 
CAESAREA ABOUT 61 A.D. 


ONEsIMUS, who was the bearer of this Letter, had been a 
slave to Philemon. He had robbed his master and run away 
from him; but, on reaching Rome, he had come under the 
influence of St. Paul, and through it had been converted 
to Christianity. Philemon, who lived probably at Laodicea 
in Asia Minor, was also one of St. Paul's converts; and St 
Paul sent Onesimus back to him with this Letter, asking 
Philemon to forgive him, and to receive him as a Brother- 
Christian. 


PHILEMON. 





I.—GREETING. 


To our dear friend and fellow-worker Philemon, to our sister 
Apphia, to our fellow-soldier Archippus ; 

AND To all the members of the Church which meets at 
Philemon’s house ; 

From Paul, now a prisoner for Christ Jesus, 

AND FROM Timothy, a Brother. 

May God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you 
and give you peace. 


IIl.—TuHE APOSTLE’S REQUEST CONCERNING A RUN-AWAY 
avy ; SLAVE. 


I always mention you in my prayers and thank God for you, 
because I hear of the love and faith which you show, not 
only to the Lord Jesus, but also to all Christ's People ; and I 
pray that your participation in the faith may display itself in a 
fuller recognition of everything that is good and Christlike in 
us. I have indeed found great delight and encouragement 
in your love, knowing, as I do, how the hearts of Christ's 
People have been cheered, Brother, by you. 

And so, though my relation to Christ gives me full liberty to 
lay down the course you should adopt, yet the claims of love 
make me prefer to plead with you—yes, even me, Paul, though 
I am an ambassador for Christ Jesus and at the present time a 
prisoner for him as well. I plead with you for this Child of 
mine, Onesimus, to whom in my prison I have given Life. 
Once he was of little service to you, but now he has become of 
great service, not only to you, but to me as well. I am send- 
ing him back to you with this letter—though it is like tearing 
out my very heart. For my own sake I should have liked to 
keep him with me, so that, while I was in prison for the Good 
News, he might have attended to my wants on your behalf. 
But I did not like to do anything without your consent, 
because I wished your generosity to be voluntary and not 


1,2 


NU 


12 
q3 


412 PHILEMON. . 


forced. He was, perhaps, separated from you for a time, 
expressly that you might have him back for good, no 
longer as a slave, but as something better—a dearly loved 
Brother, especially dear to me, and how much more so to 
you, both as a man and asa Christian! If then you count me 
your friend, receive him as you would me. If he has caused 
you any loss, or owes you any thing, charge it tome. I, Paul, 
put my own hand to it—I willrepay you myself. I say nothing 
about your owing me your very soul. But, Brother, let me 
make some profit out of you, ina Christian sense. Cheer my 
heart by your Christlike spirit. 


Even as I write, I have such confidence in your compliance 
with my wishes, that I am sure that you will do more than I 
am asking. Please also get a room ready for me, for I hope 
that I shall be sent to you all in answer to your prayers. 


III.—MEssAGES AND BLESSING. 


Epaphras, who is my fellow-prisoner for Christ Jesus, sends 
you his good wishes; and Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, and 
Luke, my fellow-workers, send theirs. 


May the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your 
spirits. 


23 


25 


FROM JOHN—IL 


THE LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN 
LADY. 


(KNOWN AS THE SECOND LETTER FROM JOHN). 


[PLACE AND DATE OF WRITING UNKNOWN, ] 





Tuis Letter appears to be a private one, addressed by an 
Officer of the Church to a lady and her family. 


FROM 
JOHN—II. 


From the Officer of the Church, 

To a Christian Lady and her children, with his true love. It 
is not I alone who love you, but ali those who know the 
Truth. We love you for the sake of that Truth which is 

_in possession of our hearts; yes, and it will be ours for 
ever. 

Blessing, mercy, and peace will be ours—the gift of God, the 
Father, and of Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son—in a life of 
truth and love. 


I am delighted to have found the lives of some of your 
children guided by the Truth, in obedience to the command 
which we received from the Father. And now, dear Lady, 
I have no new command to write to you—it is only the 
Command which we have held from the first—I beg of you, 
Let us love one another. The love I ask for involves living 
in obedience to the Father's commands, And the Command I 
am speaking of is, as you all learnt at the first, to live in a spirit 
of love. I say this because there are many impostors in the 
world—men who do not acknowledge Jesus as the Christ 
who was to come in our nature. It is that which stamps a 
man as an impostor and an anti-Christ. Take care that you 
do not lose the fruit of all our work ; on the contrary, see that 
you reap the benefit of it in full. All who go beyond the 
limits of the Teaching of the Christ have failed to find God ; 
while those who keep to that Teaching are the men who 
have found both the Father and the Son. If any one comes 
to you without this Teaching, do not receive him into your 
homes or wish him well ; for those who wish him well are 
sharing in his wicked work. 


Though I have a great deal to say to you, I would rather 
not trust it to paper and ink, but I am hoping that I may come 
and see you, and that we may talk matters over together, so 
that your happiness may be complete. The children of 
your Christian sister send you their good wishes. 


It 


I2 


3 





FROM JOHN—III. 


THE LETTER TO GAS 
(KNOWN AS THE THIRD LETTER FROM JOHN). 


[PLACE AND DATE OF WRITING UNKNOWN. ] 


Tuis is a private Letter. It is addressed by an Officer 
of the Church to a friend of the name of Gaius, and thanks 
him for his hospitality to certain missior ties. 


FROM 


VO EN 11 T. 





From the Officer of the Church, 
To his dear friend Gaius, with his true love. 

Dear friend, I pray that all may go well with you and that 
you may have good health—it is already so with your soul. 
I was indeed delighted when some Brothers came and testi- 
fied to your fidelity to the Truth—that your own life is guided 
by the Truth. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to 
hear from time to time that the lives of my Children are 
guided by the Truth. 

Dear friend, whatever you do for our Brothers is done ina 
Christian spirit—even when they are strangers to you. They 
themselves have testified before the Church to your love; and 
you will do right to help them on their way in a manner 
worthy of God’s service. For it was on behalf of the Cause 
that they left their homes, and they refused to take anything 
from their heathen converts. We, therefore, ought to give such 
people a cordial welcome, and so take our share in their work 
for the Truth. 


I wrote a few lines to the Church; but Diotrephes, who 
wants to be first among them, declines to recognize us. And 
so, if I come, I shall not forget his behaviour in ridiculing us 
with his wicked tongue. Not content with words, he declines 
to recognize our Brothers himself, and actually prevents 
those who are wishing to do so, and expels them from the 
Church. 


Dear friend, take what is good for your example, not what 
is bad. Those who do what is good belong to God; those 
who do what is bad have never seen God. Every one has 
always had a good word for Demetrius, and the Truth itself 
speaks for him. Yes, and we also add our good word, and you 
know that what we say about him is true. 


v1 


EE 


I2 


420 Ill. JOHN. 


I have a great deal to say to you, but I do not care to trust 13 
it to pen and ink ina letter. I hope, however, it will not be 14 
long before I see you, and then we will talk over matters 
together. God bless you. Our friends here send you 
their good wishes. Give my good wishes to every one of our 
friends, 


GROUP III. 


GENERAL LETTERS, 


THE LETTER TO HEBREWS. 

THE LETTER FROM JAMES. 

THE FIRST LETTER FROM JOHN. 
THE FIRST LETTER FROM PETER. 
THE SECOND LETTER FROM PETER, 
THE LETTER FROM JUDE. 








TO HEBREWS. 


A LETTER TO CHRISTIANS OF 
JEWISH ANTECEDENTS. 


[DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING UNCERTAIN. ] 


THE Traditions concerning the authorship of this Letter are 
quite unreliable. From the Letter itself it may be safely 
inferred that the writer was a man of intellectual power, that 
he was familiar with the currents of thought prevalent in 
Alexandria, that his home and work lay among Jewish 
Christians, and that he was in some way connected with 
those teachers who looked to St. Paul as their leader. It is 
certain that the Apostle Paul is not the author. The Letter 
has been attributed with some show of probability both to 
eer (Acts 11. 22—24; 13. I—5) and to Apollos (Acts 18. 

—28). 

The Jewish Christians to whom the Letter is addressed were 
a community living, possibly, in Palestine, but more probably 
in Alexandria or in Rome; and the primary object of thy 
Letter was to explain, to those who were well acquainted with, 
and attached to, the ritual of the old Covenant, the fulfilment 
of its types in the heavenly realities of the Christian Faith, 


TO 
HEBREWS. 


I.—THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRIST TO ANGELS. 


God, who in the old days spoke to our ancestors, through the 
Prophets, at many different times and in many different ways, 
has in these latter days spoken to us through the Son, whom he 
had appointed heir to everything, and through whom he had 
made the universe. He is the reflection of God’s Glory and 
the embodiment of the divine nature, and upholds all creation 
by the power of his word. He made an expiation for the 
sins of men, and then Zook his seat at the right hand of God’s 
Majesty on high, having shown himself as much greater than 
the angels as the Name that he has inherited surpasses theirs. 

To which of the angels did God ever say— 


* Thou art my Son ; this day I have become thy Father” ? 
or again— 

* Twill be to hima Father, and he shall be to me a Son” ? 
And again, when God brought the First-born into the world, 
a at Let all the angels of God bow down before him.” 
Speaking of angels he said— 

“* He makes the winds his angels 
And the fiery flames his servants” ; 

while he said of the Son— 


“ Thy throne, O God, shall stand for ever ; 
The sceptre of his Kingdom is the sceptre of Justice ; 
Thou hast loved the right and hated wickedness ; 
Therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the festal oil more 
abundantly than thy comrades.” 


8 Ps. 110.1. 5 Ps.2.7; 2 Sam. 7.14. 6 Deut. 32. 43 (Septuagint); Ps. 97. 7 
7 Ps. 104. 4. 8—* Ps. 45. 6—7. 


526 HEBREWS, 1—2 
Again— 
** Thou, O Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, 
And the heavens are the work of thy hands. 
They shall pass away, but thou remainest ; 
Like a garment they shall all grow old ; 
Like a mantle thou wi t fold them up, 


And \ike a garment “hey shail be changed, 
But thou art always the same, and thy years shall know no end.” 


To which of the angels has God ever said— 


“* Sit thou at my right hand 
Until I put thy enemies as a stool for thy feet” ? 


Are not all the angels spirits in the service of God, sent out for 
the sake of those who are to obtain Salvation, to minister 
to their needs? 

This being so, we ought to give all the more attention to 
what we have been taugut, for fear we should drift away. For 
if the Message which was delivered by angels had its authority 
confirmed, so that every offence against it, or neglect of it, met 
with its fitting requital, how can we, of all people, expect to 
escape, if we disregard a Salvation as great as this? It was 
the Master who in the first instance spoke of this Salvation, 
and its authority was confirmed for us by those who listened 
to him, while God himself added his testimony to it by signs, 
marvels, and miracles of many kinds, as well as by impart- 
ing the holy Spirit as he saw best. 


God has not given to angels the control of that Future World 
of which we are speaking! No; a writer has somewhere 
emphatically said— 


“« What is Man that thou should st remember him ? 
Or any man that thou should’st regard him ? 
Thou hast made him, for a while, lower than angels ; 
With glory and honour thou hast crowned him ; 
Thou hast set him over all that thy hands have made ; 
Thou hast placed all things under his feet.” 


This placing of everything under man implies that there was 
nothing which was not placed under him. As yet, however, 
we do not see everything placed under man. What our eyes do 
see is Jesus, who was made for a while lower than angels, now 
crowned with glory and honour because of his sufferings and 
death ; so that his tasting the bitterness of death should, in 
God’s mercy, be on behalf of all mankind. It was, 
indeed, fitting that God, for whom and through whom all 
things exist, should, when leading many sons to glory, make 
the author of their Salvation perfect through suffering. 


10—12 Ps, 102. 25—27. 13 Ps. 110.1. S—% Ps. 8. 4—6. 


Io 


13 


14 


10 


HEBREWS, 2—3. 427 


For he who purifies, and those whom he purifies, all derive 
their life from one source ; and therefore he is not ashamed to 
call them ‘ Brothers’ He says— 
“ Twill tell of thee to my Brothers, 

In the midst of the congregation I will sing thy praises.” 

And again— 
“ 7 myself will put my trust in God.” 

And yet again— 

“< See, here am 1 and the children whom God gave me.” 


Therefore, since human nature is the common heritage of 
‘the Children, Jesus also shared it, just as they do, in order 
that by his death he might render powerless him whose power 
lies in death—that is the Devil—and might in this way deliver 
all those who, from fear of death, had all their lives been 
living in slavery. It was not, of course, to the help of the 
angels that Jesus came, but éo the help of the descendants of 
Abraham. And consequently it was necessary that he should 
be made like Ais Brothers at all points, in order that he might 
prove a merciful as well as a faithful High Priest, in all that 
relates to God, for the purpose of expiating the sins of his 
People. The fact that he himself was tempted and suffered 
enables him to help others who are tempted. 


II.—THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND ITS 
HIGH PRIEST TO THE Mosaic DISPENSATION AND ITS 
PRIESTHOOD. 


Therefore, my brother-Christians, you who like me have 
received the Call from Heaven, fix your eyes on Jesus, who is 
the Apostle and High Priest of our Religion. See his faithful- 
ness to the God who appointed him, like the faithful service of 
Moses in all the House of God. Jesus, indeed, has been con- 
sidered worthy of far higher honour than Moses, just as the 
builder of the House is held in greater regard than the House 
itself. For every House has its builder, and the builder of the 
universe is God. While che faithful service of Moses in all the 
Hlouse of God was that of a servant, whose duty was to bear 
testimony to a Message still to come, the faithfulness of 
Christ was that of a son set over ‘he House of God. And we 
are that House—if only we retain the courage and confidence, 
inspired by our hope, unshaken to the end. 

Therefore, as the holy Spirit says— 

** Tf to-day you hear God’s voice, 
Do not harden your hearts, as when Israel provoked me 
On the day when they tried my patience in the desert, 


N12 Ps, 22,22. —l4 Jsa.8.17—18. 16 sa. 41.8—9. W Ps. 22. 22, 
2—5 Num. 12. 7. ; 


If 


12 


13 


14 


15 
16 


17 


18 


On 


528 HEBREWS, 3—4. 


Where your ancestors tried my forbearance, 
And saw my mighty deeds for forty years. 
Therefore 7 was sorely vexed with that generation, 
And I said—‘ Their hearts are always straying 3 
They have never learnt my ways’ ; 
While in my wrath I swore— 
® They shall never enter on my Rest.?” 
See to it, Brothers, that there is never found in any one of youa 
wicked and faithless heart, betrayed by his separating himself 
from the ever-living God. Rather encourage one another 
daily—while there is a ‘ Zo-day’—to prevent any one among 
ine from being hardened by the deceitfulness of Sin. We have 
ecome Companions of the Christ, if indeed we retain unshaken 
to the end the confidence which we had at the first. To use 
the words of Scripture— 
Tf to-day you hear God’s voice, 

Do not harden your hearts, as when Israel provoked me.” 
Who were they who heard God speak and yet os him ? 
Was it not all who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses ? 
And with whom was it that God was sorely vexed for forty years? 
Was it not with those who had sinned, and who fell dead in the 
Desert? And who were they to whom God swore that they 
should not enter upon his Rest, if it was not those who had proved 
faithless? So we see that they failed ¢o en/ery upon it on account 
of their want of faith. We must, therefore, have a care that, 
though there is a promise still standing that we shall exter upon 
God’s Rest, none of you should seem to have missed it. For 
we have had the Good News just as they had. But the Message 
which they heard did them no good, since they did not share 
the faith of those who were attentive to it. Upon that 
rest we who have believed it are now entering. As God has 
said— 

“ In my wrath I swore— 
* They shall never enter upon my Rest.” 
And yet Goa’s work was finished at the creation of the world, 
for ina passage referring to the seventh day you will find these 
words—“ God rested upon the seventh day after all his work.” On 
the other hand we read in the passage of which I am speak- 
ing—“ shall never enter upon my Rest.” Since, then, there 
is still an unfulfilled promise that some shall enter upon this 
Rest, and since those whom the Good News reached first did 
not exter upon it, because of their disbelief, God spoke again 
and fixed another day. ‘Zo-day,’ he said, speaking after a 
long interval through the mouth of David, as has been 
quoted already— 
“ Tf to-day you hear God's voice 
Do not harden your hearts.” 


7—19 Ps.95.7—11. 17 Num.14.29. 1-3 Ps. 95.1% 4 Gen. aie 
S—7 Ps. 95. 11, 7-8 


ue 


HEBREWS, 4—5. 429 


Now if Joshua had given ‘ Rest’ to the peop.e, God would not 
have spoken of another and later day. There is, then, a 
promise of a Sabbath-Rest for God’s People still unfulfilled. 
For all who exter upon his Rest do themselves vest after their work, 
just as God did. Let us, therefore, try earnestly to enter 
upon that Rest, so that none of us should fall through such dis- 
belief as that of which we have had an example. God’s 
Message is a living and active power, sharper than any two- 
edged sword, piercing its way till it penetrates soul and spirit— 
not the joints only but the very marrow—and detecting the in- 
most thoughts and purposes of the mind. Thereis no created 
thing that can hide itself from the sight of God. Everything 
is exposed and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we 
have to give account. 

We have, then, in Jesus, the Son of God, a great High 
Priest who. has passed into the highest Heaven; so let us 
hold fast to the Faith which we have professed. Our High 
Priest is not one unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, 
but one who has in every way been tempted, exactly as we 
have been, without ever sinning. Therefore, let us go up 
boldly to the Throne of Mercy, to find pity and mercy for our 
hour of need. 


All High Priests, if they are taken from among men, are 
appointed as representatives of their fellow-men in their relations 
with God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices in expiation of sins. 
They are able to sympathize with the ignorant and deluded, 
since they are themselves subject to infirmities, and are there- 
fore bound to offer sacrifices for sins, not merely for the 
People, but equally so for themselves. Further, no one takes 
this office upon himself, but only when he has been called to 
do so by God, as Aaron himself was. And so even the 
Christ did not of himself assume the dignity of High Priest, 
but his appointment was made by him who said to him— 


“ Thou art my Son ; this day L have become thy Father” ; 
and on another occasion also— 
“6 Thou art, like Melchizedek, a priest for all time.”’ 


Jesus, in the days of his earthly life, offered prayers and 
supplications, with loud cries and with tears, to him who was 
able to save him from death ; and he was heard because of 
his devout submission. Son though he was, he learnt obedi- 
ence from his sufferings ; and being made perfect, he became 
to all those who obey him the source of enduring Salvation, 
while God himself pronounced him a High Priest “he 
Melchizedek, 


10 Gen. 2,2, W—l1l Ps.o5. 11. 5 Ps. 2.7. 6 Ps. 110, 4. 9 Ise. 43 19 
10 Ps. 110. 4. 


13 


wn & Wh 


430 HEBREWS, 5—6. 


III—TuHE PARALLEL BETWEEN THE PRIESTHOOD OF 
MELCHIZEDEK AND THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE CHRIST. 


Now on this subject I have much to say, but it is difficult 
to explain it to you, because you have shown yourselves so 
slow to learn. For while, considering the time that has 
elapsed, you ought to be teaching others, you still need some 
one to teach you the very alphabet of the Divine Revelation, 
and need again to be fed with ‘ milk’ instead of with ‘solid 
food.’ For all who have still to take ‘milk’ know nothing 
of the teaching about righteousness ; they are mere infants. 
But ‘ solid food’ is for advanced Christians, for those whose 
faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish right 
from wrong. Therefore, let us get beyond elementary 
teaching about the Christ to something more advanced. Do 
not let us always be laying over again a foundation of repen- 
tance for a lifeless formality, of faith in God—teaching con- 
cerning baptisms and the laying on of hands, the resurrection 
of the dead and a final judgement. Yes and, with God's help, 
so we will. For if those who were once for all brought 
into the Light, and tasted the gift from Heaven, and came 
to share in the holy Spirit, and tasted the sweetness of the 
Message of God, and felt the influences of the Coming Age— 
if those, I say, fell away, it would be impossible to stir them 
again to repentance, for they would be crucifying the Son of 
God over again for themselves and exposing him to open con- 
tempt. Ground that drinks in the showers that from time to 
time fall upon it, and produces vegetation useful to those for 
whom it is tilled, receives a blessing from God ; but if it dears 
thorns and thistles, it is regarded as worthless, it is in danger of 
being cursed, and its end will be the fire. 

But about you, dear friends, even though we speak in this 
way, we are confident of better things—of things that point to 
your Salvation. For God is not unjust; he will not forget the 
work that you did, and the love for his cause that you showed, 
in sending help to your fellow-Christians—as you are still 
doing. But our desire is that every one of you should show a 
similar earnestness to attain to a full conviction of the fulfil- 
ment of our hope, and should keep it to the end. Then you 
will never grow indifferent, and you will learn to copy those 
who, through faith and patience, are now entering upon the 
enjoyment of God’s promises. 

When God, you remember, gave his promise to Abraham, 
since there was no one greater by whom he could swear, he 
. swore by himself. His words were—“ J will assuredly bless thee 
and increase thy numbers.” And so, after patiently waiting, 
Abraham obtained the fulfilment of God’s promise. Men, of 

1 Gen. 1. 11—12. 8 Gen. 3. 17-18. 13—I4 Gen, 22. 16—17. 


nN un Pw 


I 
16 


HEBREWS, 6—7. 331 


course, swear by what is greater than themselves, and with 
them an oath is accepted as putting a matter beyond all dis- 
pute. And therefore God, in his desire to show, with unmis- 
takeable plainness, to those who were to enter on the enjoy- 
ment of what he had promised, the unchangeableness of his 
purpose, bound himself with an oath. For he meant that we 
should find great encouragement in these two unchangeable 
things, which make it impossible for God to prove false—we, 
I mean, who have fled for safety where we might lay hold on 
the hope set before us. This hope is a very anchor for our 
souls, secure and strong, and it reaches into the Sanctuary that 
lies behind the Curtain, where Jesus, our Forerunner, has 
entered on our behalf, after being made, Ue Melchizedek,a 
High Priest for all time. 


It was this Melchizedek, King of Salem and Priest of the Most 
High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the 
kings, and gave him his blessing; and it was to him that 
Abraham allotted a tithe of all the spoil. The meaning of his 
name is ‘King of Righteousness, and besides that, he was 
also King of Salem, which means ‘ King of Peace.’ There is 
no record of his father, or mother, or lineage, nor again of 
any beginning of his days or end of his life. In this he 
resembles the Son of God, and he stands before us as a priest 
whose priesthood is continuous. 

Consider, then, the importance of this Melchizedek, to whom 
even the Patriarch Aéraham himself gave a tithe of the choicest 
spoils. Those descendants of Levi, who are from time to 
time appointed to the priesthood, are directed to collect tithes 
from the people in accordance with the Law—that is from 
their own Brothers, although they also are descended from 
Abraham. But Melchizedek, whose lineage has no connexion 
with theirs, received tithes from Abraham, and gave his blessing 
to the very man who had God’s promises. Now no one can 
dispute that it is the superior who blesses the inferior. In the 
one case the ##¢hes are received by mortal men; in the other 
case by one about whom there is the statement that his life 
still continues. Moreover, in a sense, even Levi, who is the 
receiver of the tithes, has, through Abraham, paid tithes ; for 
- Levi was still in the body of his ancestor when Melchizedek met 
Abraham. 

Well then, if Perfection had been attainable through the 
Levitical priesthood—and it was under this priesthood that 
the people received the Law—why was it still necessary that a 
priest of a different order should come, a priest 4e Melchizedek 
and not Zo be reckoned with Aaron? With the change of the 
priesthood a change of the Law became a necessity. And he 


39 Zev. 16.2—12, Ps. 110.4. 1-3 Gen. 14. 17—19; Ps. 110 
4—10 Gen. 14. 17—20- 


17 


18 


#9 


20 


It 


12 
T3 


432 HEBREWS, 7—8. 


of whom all this is said belonged to quite a different tribe, no 
member of which has ever served at the altar. For it is plain 
that our Lord has sprung from the tribe of Judah, though of 
that tribe Moses never said a word as to their being priests. 
The matter is even yet plainer when we remember 
that the new priest to come resembled Me/chizedek, and that he 
was appointed, not under a Law regulating only earthly 
matters, but by virtue of a life beyond the reach of death; 
for that is the meaning of the statement—“ Zhou art, like 
Melchizedek, a priest for all time.” On the one hand we have 
the abolition of a previous regulation as both inefficient and 
useless (for the Law never brought anything to perfection) ; 
and on the other hand we have the introduction of a further 
and higher hope, which enables us to draw near to God. 
Then again, this new priest was not appointed without 
an oath from God, as the Levitical priests are, but he was 
appointed with an oath from God, when it was said to him— 
“ The Lord has sworn, and will not change, ‘ Thou art a priest for 
all time”” And the oath shows the corresponding superiority 
of the Covenant of which Jesus is appointed the surety. 
Again, the Levitical priests are appointed in considerable 
numbers, because death prevents their remaining in office ; 
but Jesus remains for all time, and therefore the priesthood 
that he holds is never liable to pass to another. And that is 
why he is able to be, in every sense, the Saviour of those who 
come to God through him, living for ever, as he does, to 
intercede on their behalf. 

This was the High Priest we needed—holy, innocent, spot- 
less, beyond the reach of contamination by sinners, exalted 
above the highest Heaven, and one who has no need to offer 
sacrifices daily as those High Priests have, first for their own 
sins and then for those of the People. For his sacrifice was 
made once and for all, when he offered himself as the sacrifice. 
The Law, you must remember, appoints as High Priests men 
who are liable to infirmity ; but the words of God's oath, 
which was later than the Law, name the Soz as, for all time, the 
perfect Priest. 


IV.—THE REALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY AS FORESHADOWED 
IN THE RITUAL OF THE TABERNACLE. 


The main point in what I have been saying is this. We 
have a High Priest such as I have described; and he das 
taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in 
Heaven, where he ministers in the Sanctuary and in the true 
Tabernacle set up by the Lord and not by man. All High Priests 


U—233 Ps, 110. 4; 2.7. 1Ps. 110.1% 2 Num, 24. 6. 


27 


HEBREWS, 8—9. 


are appointed for the purpose of offering gifts and sacrifices 
to God; and therefore it follows that this High Priest must 
have some offering to make. If he were, however, still upon 
earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are already 
priests who offer the prescribed gifts as the Law directs. 
(These priests, it is true, are engaged in a service which is 
only a sketch and shadow of the heavenly realities. This is 
shown by the directions given to Moses when he was about to 
construct the Tabernacle. ‘“ Zook zo it,” are the words, “ that 
thou make every part in accordance with the pattern shown thee on 
the mountain.”) But Jesus, as we see, has obtained a ministry 
as far greater than theirs, as the Covenant of which he is the 
intermediary, inasmuch as it has been based on better promises, 
is better than the former Covenant. If that first Covenant 
had been faultless,there would have been no occasion for a 
second. Buta writer, finding fault with the people, says— 


‘“* Listen, the time is coming,” says the Lord, 

“< When 1 will ratify a new Covenant with the People of Israel 
and with the People of Fudah— 

Not such a Covenant as I made with their ancestors, 

On the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out 
of the land of Egypt. 

For they did not abide by their Covenant with me, 

And therefore I disregarded them,” says the Lord. 
“‘ This is the Covenant that I will make with the People of Israel 
After those days,” says the Lord. 
“ 7 will impress my laws on their minds, 

And will inscribe them on their hearts ; 

And they will take me as their God, 
And I will take them as my People. 

There shall be no need for every man to instruct his fellow-citizen, 
Or for a man to say to his Brother * Learn to know the Lord’ ; 

For every one will know me, 
From the lowest to the hizhest. 

For I will be merciful to their wrong-doings, 
And Iwill no longer remember their sins.” 


By speaking of a “ zew” Covenant, God at once renders the 
former Covenant obsolete ; and whatever is becoming obsolete 
and antiquated is on the point of disappearing. 


Well then, even the first Covenant had its regulations for 
divine worship, as well as its sanctuary—though only a 
material one. For a tabernacle was constructed, with an outer 
part which contained the stand for the lamps, and the table, 
and the consecrated bread. This was known as the Sanctuary. 
The part of the Tabernacle behind the second Curtain was 
known as the Inner Sanctuary. In it was the gold incense-altar, 


5 Exod, 25.40. %—13 Fer. 31. 31-34. 


On 


10 


12 


13 


434 HEBREWS, 9. 


and the Ark containing the Covenant, completely covered 
with gold. In the Ark was a gold casket containing the 
manna, the rod of Aaron that budded, and the tablets on 
which the Covenant was written; while above it, and over- 
shadowing the Cover on which the blood was sprinkled, were 
the Cherubim of the Presence. But I must not now stop to 
speak of these things in detail. Such, then, were the 
arrangements in the Tabernacle. Into the outer part priests 
were constantly going, in the discharge of their sacred duties ; 
but into the inner one only the High Priest went, and that 
but once a year, never without taking the blood of a victim, 
which he offered on his own behalf, and on behalf of the 
errors of the people. What the holy Spirit was teaching was 
this—that the way into the Sanctuary was hidden, as long as 
the outer part of the Tabernacle was standing. For it served 
as a type, pointing on to the present time ; and in keepin 
with this, both gifts and sacrifices were continuously offered, 
though they were unable to satisfy the conscience of the 
worshippers. It was only concerned with food and drink and 
various ablutions—external ceremonials imposed till the coming 
of the New Order. 

But when Christ came, he appeared as a High Priest of 
the Better System that had been established. He entered 
through that nobler and more perfect ‘Tabernacle,’ which is 
not the work of human hands—I mean is no part of the 
visible creation. And he did not come with the blood of 
goats and calves, but with his own blood ; and having secured 
our permanent deliverance, he entered, once and for all, into 
the Sanctuary. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the 
sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, purified those who had 
been defiled (as far as ceremonial purification went), how 
much more will the blood of the Christ,'who through the 
agency of the eternal Spirit has offered himself up to as 
a victim without blemish, purify our consciences from the 
pollution of a lifeless formality, and fit us for the service of 
the living God? That is why he is the intermediary of 
a new Covenant ; in order that, as a death has taken place to 
effect a deliverance from the offences committed under the first 
Covenant, those who have received the Call may obtain the 
enduring inheritance promised to them. Whenever such a 
Covenant as a will is in question, the death of the maker of it 
must necessarily be alleged. For such a Covenant only takes 
effect upon death, it having, as you know, no force as long as 
the person who made it is alive. This explains why 
even the first Covenant was not ratified without the shedding 
of blood. For when every command had been announced to 
all the people by Moses in accordance with the Law, he took 
the blood of the calves and of the goats, with water, scarlet 
wool, and a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled even the Book of 


10 


II 


12 


13 
14 


15 


16 


17 
18 


19 


HEBREWS, 9—10. 435 


the Law, as well as all the people, saying, as he did so—“ This 
ts the blood that renders valid the Covenant which God has com- 
manded to be made with you.’ And in the same way he also 
sprinkled with the blood the Tabernacle and all the things 
that were used in public worship. Indeed, under the Law, 
almost everything was purified with blood ; and unless blood 
was shed, no forgiveness was to be obtained. 

While, then, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly 
realities to be purified by such means as these, the heavenly 
realities themselves required better sacrifices. For it was not 
into a Sanctuary made by man, which merely foreshadowed the 
true one—that Christ entered, but it was into Heaven itself, that 
he might now appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 
Nor was it in order to offer himself many times, as year after 
year the High Priest entered the Sanctuary with an offering of 
blood—but not his own blood ; for then Christ would have had 
to undergo death many times since the creation of the world. 
But now, once and for all, at the close of the age, he has 
appeared, in order to abolish sin by the sacrifice of himself. 
And inasmuch as it is ordained for men to die but once (death 
being followed by judgement), so it is with the Christ. He 
was offered up once only, to dear away the sins of many; 
and the second time he will appear—but without any burden 
of sin—to those who are waiting for him to be their Salvation. 

The Law, though it was able to foreshadow the Better 
System that was coming, never had its actual substance. Its 
priests, with those sacrifices which they offered continuously 
year after year, could never make those who came to worship 
perfect. Otherwise, would not the offering of these sacrifices 
have been abandoned, as the worshippers, having been once 
purified, had their consciences clear from sins? But, on the 
contrary, these sacrifices recall their sins to mind year after 
year. For the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to remove 
sins. That is why, when he was coming into the world, 
the Christ declared— 

“ Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire, but thou dost provide for 
me a body ; 

Thou dost take no pleasure in burnt offering and sacrifice for sin. 
So I said, ‘See, 1 have come’ (as is written about me in the pages of 

the Book), 

‘To do thy will, O God.’” 

First come the words—“ Tho dost not desire, nor dost thou 
take pleasure in, sacrifice, offering, burnt offering, and sacrifice for 
sin” (offerings regularly made under the Law), and ¢en there 
is added—* See, Z have come to do thy will.” The former state- 
ment is set aside to be replaced by the latter. And it is in the 
carrying out of God’s wz// that we have been purified by the 
sacrifice, once and for all, of the dody of Jesus Christ. 

20 Exod. 24.8 8 Jsa. 53.12. 5—10 Ps. 40. 6—8, 


20 
21 


22 


23 


24 


25 
26 


nb WwW 


uO 


Io 


10 


436 HEBREWS, 10. 


All other priests stand day after day at their ministrations, 
and offer the same sacrifices over and over again—sacrifices 
which can never take sins away. But this priest, after offer- 
ing one sacrifice for sins, which should serve for all time, Zook 
his seat at the right hand of God, and has been waiting since then 
for his enemies to be put as a stool for his feet. By a single offerin 
he has made perfect for all time those who are being purified. 
We have also the testimony of the holy Spirit. For 
after saying— 
S¢© This is the Covenant that I will make with them 
After those days,’ says the Lord ; 
‘Iwill impress my laws on their hearts, 
And will inscribe them on their minds,’” 


then we have—“ And their sins and their iniguities I will no 
longer remember.” And when these are forgiven, there is no 
further need of an offering for sin. 


V.—ENCOURAGEMENT AND WARNING BASED ON THE 
PREVIOUS TEACHING. 


Since then, Brothers, we may enter the Sanctuary with 
confidence, in virtue of the sacrifice of Jesus, by the way 
which he inaugurated for us—a new and living way, a way 
through the Sanctuary-Curtain (by which I mean his human 
nature); and since we have in him a Great Priest set over the 
House of God, \et us draw near to God in all sincerity of heart 
and in perfect confidence, with our hearts purified by the 
sprinkled blood from all consciousness of wrong, and with our 
bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold firm and 
unshaken the hope which we have professed; for we have a 
promise from one who may be trusted. Let us vie with one 
another in a rivalry of love and noble actions. And let us not, 
as some do, cease to meet together: but on the contrary, let 
us encourage one another, and, all the more, now that you see 
the Day drawing near. 

Remember, if we sin wilfully after we have gained a full 
knowledge of the Truth, there can be no further sacrifice for 
sin ; there is only a dreadful anticipation of judgement, and a 
burning indignation which will destroy all opponents. When a 
man set at nought the Law of Moses, he was, on the evidence of 
two or three witnesses, put to death without pity. How much 
worse then, do you think, will be the punishment deserved by 
those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God, who have 
treated the blood that rendered the Covenant valid—the very 
blood by which they were purified—as of no account, and 


1213 Ps, 110. 1%. 1617 Yer. 31. 33-34. 2 Zech. 6. 11-13; Num. 12. 7. 
7 Isa. 26, 1x (Septuagint). % Deut.17.6. % Exod. 24. 8 


HEBREWS, 10—11, 437 


have heaped insults on the gracious Spirit of God? We know 
who it was that said— /¢ zs for me to take revenge, I will pay 
back” ; and again—“ The Lord will judge his people.” It is a 
terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. 

Call to mind those early days in which, after you had 
received the Light, you patiently underwent a long and 
painful conflict. Sometimes, in consequence of the taunts 
and injuries heaped upon you, you became a public spectacle, 
and sometimes you suffered through having shown yourselves 
to be the friends of men who were in the same position as 
yourselves. For you not only sympathised with those who 
were in prison, but you even took the confiscation of your 
possessions cheerfully, knowing, as you did, that you had in 
yourselves a greater possession and a lasting one. Do 
not, therefore, abandon the confidence you have gained, for it 
has a great reward awaiting it. You still have need of patient 
endurance, in order that, when you have done God’s will, you 
may obtain the fulfilment of his promise. 


‘© For there is indeed but a very Little while 
Ere the One who is Coming will have come, without delay ; 

And those who stand right with me will find Life as the result of faith, 
While 7f a man draws back, my heart can find no pleasure in him.” 


But we do not belong 70 those who draw back, to their Ruin, but 
to those who have faith, to the preservation of their souls. 


VI.—FAITH, AND WHAT IT HAS ENABLED MEN TO DO. 


Faith is confidence in the realization of one’s hopes; it isa 
conviction regarding things which are not yet visible. And it 
was for such faith that the men of old were well spoken of. 

Faith enables us to perceive that the universe was created at 
the bidding of God—so that what we see was not made out of 
what is visible. Faith made the sacrifice which Abel 
offered more acceptable to God than Cain’s, and caused him to 
be spoken well of as a righteous man ; for dy his acceptance ofhis 
Lifts God himself speaks well of him; and it is by the example 
of his faith that Abel, though dead, still speaks. It was 
due to the faith of Enoch that he was removed from earth, to 
prevent his experiencing death. He cou/d not be found because 
God had removed him; and before his removal he was well 
spoken of as having pleased God. But without faith it is impos- 
sible to f/ease him, for those who come to God must believe 
that God exists, and that he rewards those who seek for him. 

It was faith that enabled Noah, after he had received 


30 Deut. 32. 35-36. 37—39 Isa. 26.20; Hab. 2.3, 4. 4 Gene 4. 4. 
5—6 Gen. 5. 24. 


30 
31 
32 
33 


34 


35 


36 


37 
38 


39 


U1 


11 


438 HEBREWS, 114. 


the divine warning about what could not then be foreseen, to 
build, in reverent obedience, an ark in which to save his family. 
By his faith he condemned the world and became possessed of 
that righteousness which follows upon faith. It was 
faith that enabled Abraham to obey the Call that he received, 
and to se¢ out for the place which he was afterwards to obtain 
as his own ; and he did so without knowing at the time where 
he was going. It was faith that made him go to the 
Promised Land—a stranger to a strange country—and live 
there in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who shared the promise 
with him. He was looking for the City with the sure 
foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Again, 
it was faith that enabled Sarah to conccive (though she was 
past the age for child-bearing), because she felt sure that he who 
had given her the promise might be trusted. And so from one 
man—and that when his powers were dead—there gina a 
people as numerous as the stars in the heavens or the cou 
grains of sand upon the shore. 

All those whom I have mentioned died without losing faith. 
They did not obtain the promised blessings, but they saw 
them from a distance and welcomed the sight, and they 
acknowledged themselves to be only aliens and strangers on 
the earth. Those who speak thus show plainly that they are 
seeking their fatherland. If they had been thinking of the 
land which they had left, they could have found opportunities 
to return. But no, they were longing for a better, a heavenly, 
land! And therefore God was not ashamed to be called their 
God ; indeed he had already prepared them a city. 

It was faith that enabled Adraham, when put to the test, to offer 
Isaac as a sacrifice—he who had received the promises 
offering up his only son, of whom it had been said, “ /¢ és 
through Isaac that there shall be descendants to bear thy name.” 
For he argued that God was able even to raise a man from the 
dead—and indeed, figuratively speaking, Abrabam did receive 
Isaac back from the dead. It was faith that enabled 
Isaac to bless Jacob and Esau, and to tell them of what lay in 
the future. Faith enabled Jacob, when dying, to give 
his blessing to both the sons of Joseph, and ¢o bow himself in 
worship as he leant on his staff. Faith caused Joseph, 
when his end was near, to speak of the future migration of the 
Israelites, and to give instructions with regard to his bones. 

Faith caused the parents of Moses to hide the child for 
three months after his birth, for they saw that he was a beautiful 
child ; and they refused to respect the King’s order. It 
was faith that caused Moses, when he was grown up, to decline the 


8 Gen. 12, 1. 12 Gen. 22. 17: 32. 12. 11 Chrom. 29. 15; PS. 30. 225 
Gen. 23. 4. 17 Gen. 22. 1,2 18 Gen. 21.12, 2 Gen. 47.31. BB Zxod. 2. 2. 
a Exod. 2. 11. 


It 


12 


13 


HEBREWS, 11—12, 439 


title of ‘Son of a Daughter of Pharaoh.’ He preferred to share 
the hardships of God’s People rather than to have the short- 
lived enjoyment of a sinful life. For he thought that the 
stigma which attaches to the Christ was of greater value than the 
treasures of Egypt, looking forward, as he did, to the reward 
awaiting him. Faith caused him to leave Egypt, 
undaunted by the King’s anger, for he was strengthened in his 
endurance by the vision of the invisible God. Faith led 
him to institute the Passover and the Sprinkling of the Blood, so 
that the Destroyer might not touch the eldest children of the 
Israelites. Faith enabled the people to cross the Red 
Sea, as if it had been dry land, while the Egyptians, when they 
attempted to do so, were drowned. Faith caused the 
walls of Jericho to fall after the Israelites had marched round 
them daily for a week. Faith saved Rahab, the prosti- 
tute, from perishing with the unbelievers, after she had 
entertained the spies with friendliness. 

Need I add anything more? ‘Time would fail me if I 
attempted to relate the stories of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and 
Jephthah, with those of David, Samuel, and the Prophets. It 
was by their faith that they subdued kingdoms, ruled 
righteously, gained the fulfilment of God’s promises, stopped the 
mouths of lions, quelled the fury of the flames, escaped the point 
of the sword, found strength in the hour of weakness, displayed 
their prowess in war, and routed hostile armies, Women 
received their dead back from death. Some were tortured on 
the wheel, and refused release in order that they might rise to 
a better life. Others had to face taunts and blows, and even 
chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they 
were tortured, they were sawn in pieces, they were put to the 
sword ; they wandered about clothed in the skins of sheep or 
goats, destitute, persecuted, ill-used (though the world was not 
worthy of them), roaming in lonely places, on the mountains, 
and in caves and holes in the ground. 

Yet, though they one and all gained a good name by their 
faith, they did not obtain the fulfilment of God’s promise ; 
since it was for us that God had in view something which was 
still better, and it was not his will that they should reach their 
full perfection apart from us. 


VII.—TuHE NEED FOR ENDURANCE, AND THE PURPOSE OF 
DISCIPLINE. 


Seeing that there is on every side of us such a throng of wit- 
nesses, let us therefore, in our turn, lay aside every thing that 
hinders us, and the sin that clings about us, and run with 


26 Ps. 89. 50, 51; 69.9. 28 Exod. 12, 21—23. 33 Dan. 6. 22, 


25 
26 


27 
28 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 


34 
35 


36 
37 


38 


39 
40 


12 


440 HEBREWS, 12. 


perseverance the course that lies before us, our a Aes ee upon 
Jesus, who is our Guide, and our perfect Example of faith, and 
who, in exchange for the happiness that lay at his feet, sub- 
mitted to the cross, disregarding its shame, and now has taken 
his seat on the right hand of the throne of God. If you would 
not grow fainthearted and weary, weigh well the example 
of him who has submitted to such opposition at the hands of 
men who were sinning against themselves, You have not 
yet, in your struggle with sin, resisted to the death; and you 
have forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to 
you as God’s Children— 


“* My child, think not lightly of the Lord’s discipline, 
Do not despond when he rebukes you ; 
For it is those whom he loves that he disciplines, 
And he chastises every child whom he acknowledges.” 


It is for your discipline that you have to submit to all this. God 
is dealing with you as his Chi/dren. For where is there a child 
whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without 
that discipline, in which all children share, it shows that you 
are bastards, and not true Children. Further, when our 
earthly fathers disciplined us, we respected them. Ought we 
not, then, with far greater readiness to yield submission to the 
Father of all souls, and so find Life? Our fathers disciplined 
us for a short time and according to their own judgement ; but 
God thinks only of our advantage, and his object is that we 
should share his holiness. Of course no discipline is pleasant 
at the time ; on the contrary, it is painful. But afterwards it 
produces, as its fruit, a righteous life that brings peace to 
those who have been trained under it. Therefore // 
again the down-dropped hands, and straighten the weakened knees ; 
make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame limb may not 
be put out of place, but be cured instead. 


VIII.—ExXHORTATIONS AND WARNINGS, 


Try to live at peace with everyone, and to attain to that purity 
without which no one will see the Lord. Take care that no 
one fails to avail himself of the divine help, that no bitterness is 
allowed to take root and spring up and cause trouble, and so poison 
the whole community. Take care that no one becomes 
immoral, or irreligious like Zsau, who sold his birthright in 
exchange for a single meal. For you know that even after- 
wards, when he wished to claim his father’s blessing, he was 


2Ps.xxo.1. 3 Num.16.38. 5—8 Prov. 3.311—12. 12 Isa. 35. 3 (Hebrew). 
4 ‘Sigg: 4- 26 (Septuagint). 14 Ps. 34. 14. Deut. ag 18 PMs od 
be 250 33. 


Io 


II 


12 


13 


14 
15 


16 
17 


HEBREWS, 12—18. 444 


rejected. Indeed, he never found an opportunity for repair- 
ing his error, though he begged for the blessing with tears. 

It is not to a tangible flaming fire that you have drawn near, 

nor to gloom, and darkness, and storm, and the blast of a trumpet, 
and an audible voice. ‘Those who heard that voice begged that 
the words might cease, for they could not bear to think of 
the command—“ Zven if an animal touches the mountain, it is to 
be stoned to déath;” and so fearful was the sight that Moses 
said—“ 7 am terrified and trembling.” No, but you have 
drawn near to Mount Zion, the City of the living God, the 
heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels, to the gather- 
ing and assemblage of God’s eldest Sons whose names are 
enrolled in Heaven, to God the Judge of all men, to the Spirits 
of the righteous who have reached perfection, to Jesus, the 
intermediary of a new Covenant, and to the Sprinkled Blood 
that tells of better things than the blood of Abel. 
Beware of refusing to hear him who is speaking. For if the 
Israelites did not escape punishment, when they refused to 
listen to him who taught them on earth the divine will, it will 
be far worse for us, if we turn away from him who is teaching 
us from Heaven. Then his voice shook the earth, but now 
his declaration is—“ Still once more I will cause not only the 
earth to tremble, but also the heavens.’ And those words ‘ sti// 
once more’ indicate the passing away of all that is shaken— 
that is, of all created things—in order that only what is 
unshaken may remain. Therefore, we who have been 
given a kingdom that cannot be shaken should be thankful, 
and so offer acceptable worship to God, with awe.and rever- 
ence. For our God is a consuming fire. 


Love for the Brethren must never be allowed to die out. Do 
not forget to be hospitable ; for through being hospitable, people 
have sometimes entertained angels as guests, without knowing it. 
Remember those who are in prison, regarding yourselves as 
their fellow-prisoners; remember, too, those who are suffering 
hardships, not forgetting that you also have bodies that may 
suffer. The married state should be regarded as in every 
way an honourable condition of life, and married intercourse 
as pure ; for God will judge those who are immoral and those 
who commit adultery. Your life must not be ruled by 
the love of money. Be content with what you have, for God 
himself has said—“Z will never forsake you, nor will I ever 
abandon you.” Therefore we may say with confidence— 


“ The Lord ts my helper, I will not be afraid. 
What can man doto me?” 


18—19 Deut. 4. 11—12; Exod. 19. 16; Deut. 5. 23, 25, 26. 20 Exod. 19. 12—=13. 
: Deut.g9.19. %—27 Hag. 2.6. % Deut. 4.24. 5 Deut. 31.6,8; Fos. 1. Se 
Ps. 118. 6. 


18 
19 


20 


21 
22 


23 


24 


25 


42 HEBREWS, 13. 


Do not forget your Leaders, the men who told you God’s 
Message. Recall the close of their lives, and imitate their 
faith. 


IX.—AN APPEAL TO THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS, 


Jesus Christ is the same to-day as he was yesterday, and as 
he will be for ever. Do not allow yourselves to be carried 
away by the many forms of teaching that are foreign to the 
Truth. It is better to rely for spiritual strength upon the 
divine help, than upon regulations ca food ; for those 
whose lives are guided by such regulations have never found 
them of any benefit. Weare not without an altar; but it is one 
at which those whostill worship in the Tabernacle have no right 
to eat. The bodies of those animals whose d/ood ts brought by the 
High Priest into the Sanctuary, as an offering for sin, are burnt 
outside the camp. And so Jesus, too, in order to purify the 
People by his own blood, suffered outside the gate. There- 
fore let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing the same 
stigma as he; for we have no permanent city here, but we 
are looking for the City that is to be. In his name /e us offer, 
as our sacrifice, continual praise to God—an offering from lips that 
glorify his name. Never forget to do kindly acts and to 
share what you have with others, for sacrifices of that kind 
are acceptable to God. 


X.—FAREWELL REQUESTS AND BLESSINGS, 


Obey your Leaders, and submit to their control, for they are 
watching over your souls, as men who will have to render an 
account, so that their account may be given joyfully, and not 
with sorrow. That would not be to your advantage. 

Pray for us, for we are sure that our intentions are good, 
since our wish is always to act honourably. And I the more 
earnestly ask for your prayers, in order that I may be restored 
to you the sooner. 

May God, the source of all peace, who brought back from the 
dead him who, dy virtue of the blood that rendered valid the 
unchangeable Covenant, is the Great Shepherd of God's Sheep, 
Jesus, our Lord—may God make you perfect in everything 
that is good, so that you may be able to do his will. May he 
produce in us all that is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus 
Christ. To him be all glory for ever and ever. Amen. 


u—13 Lev. 16. 27. 1 Ps. so. 14; Lev. 7. 12; 2 Chron. 29. 31; Js. 57. 19 
(Hebrew); Hos. 14.2, 2 /sa. 63. 11; Zech. 9. 113 lsa. 55.3; Laek. 37. 26. 


21 


HEBREWS, 13. 443 


I beg you, Brothers, to bear with these words of advice. I 
have only written very briefly to you. 

You will be glad to hear that our Brother, Timothy, has 
been set free. If he comes here soon, we will visit you 
together. 


Give our good wishes to all your Leaders, and to all your 
fellow-Christians. Our friends from Italy send their 
good wishes to you. 


May God bless you all. 


22 


23 


24 


25 





FROM JAMES. 


ST. JAMES'S LETTER@as 
CHRISTIANS OF JEWISH ORIGIN. 


PROBABLY WRITTEN AT JERUSALEM BETWEEN 
44 AND 48 A.D. 


THIS letter is believed to have been written by the James 
who was one of the brothers of Jesus (not the Apostle of that 
name), and who presided over the Church at Jerusalem (Acts 
12.17; 15.13). Itis addressed to converts from Judaism, and 
is directed to securing from such converts a livelier exhibition 
of Christian virtues. There are many indications in the Letter 
that some, at all events, of those for whom it was intended had 
been passing through days of persecution—possibly the perse- 
cution by Herod Agrippa I, 44 A.D. (Acts 12. 1), in which the 
Apostle James was martyred. 


FROM 


JAMES. 





I.—GREETING, AND SUNDRY INSTRUCTIONS. 


JAMES, a Servant of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ, 


greets 
The Twelve Tribes that are in exile. 


My Brothers, when you meet with temptations, whatever 
they are, think of them as a cause for nothing but rejoicing, 
remembering that the testing of your faith develops endurance. 
And let endurance do its work perfectly, so that you may be 
absolutely perfect and not deficient in any respect. 

If any of you are deficient in wisdom, let them ask it of God 
who gives generously to every one, without reproaching them, 
and they will receive it. But they must ask with confidence 
and without ever doubting, for those who doubt are like waves 


driven hither and thither at the mercy of the wind. Such7- 


vacillating men, irresolute at every turn, must never expect that 
they will receive anything from the Lord. A Brother 
in lowly circumstances should be proud of his high position, 
but a rich Brother of the lowliness of his position ; for the 
rich man will pass away /ike the flower of the grass. Asthesun 
rises and the hot wind blows, ¢he grass is withered, its flower 
fades and all its beauty is gone. So with the rich man. In the 
midst of his pursuits he will come to an untimely end. 
Happyisthe man who stands firm under temptation, forwhen 
he has stood the test, he will receive as his crown the gift of 
Life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. No 
one should ever say in the hour of temptation—‘* It is God who 
is tempting me!” For God, who cannot be tempted to do 
wrong, does not himself tempt any one. People are in every 
case tempted by their own passions—allured and enticed by 
them. Then the Passion conceives and gives birth to Sin, and 
Sin, on reaching maturity, brings forth Death. Do not 


1011 Jsq, 40. 6—7. 12 Dan. 12. 12. 


2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
8 


9 


Io 
ar 


12 


448 JAMES, 1-2. 


be deceived, my dear Brothers. Every good gift and every 
perfect endowment is from above, and comes down to us from 
the Maker of the Lights in the heavens, who himself, however, 
is never subject to change or toeclipse. His will gave us Life, 
through the Message ppike Truth, so that we should be, as it 
were, an earnest of still further creations. 


Mark this, my dear Brothers :—Every one should be ready 
to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry; for anger in 
man does not produce the righteousness required by God. 
Therefore, put aside all filthy habits and anything wicked still 
left within you, and in a humble spirit receive the Teaching 
planted in your hearts, which is able to save your souls. t 
that Teaching into practice, and do not merely listen to it— 
deceiving yourselves. For if any one listens to it and does 
not practice it, he is like a man lc king at his own face 
in a mirror. He looks at himself, then goes on his way, 
and immediately forgets what he was like. But those who 
look carefully into the perfect Law, the Law of Freedom, and 
continue to do so, not listening to it and forgetting it, but 
putting it into practice—those people will be happy in what 
they do. When a man appears to be religious, yet does 
not bridle his tongue, but imposes upon his own conscience, 
such a man’s religious observances are valueless. Now here 
is a religious observance which is pure and without stain in 
the eyes of God our Father—to visit orphans and widows in 
their hour of trouble, and to keep oneself from the contamina- 
tion of the world. 


II.—THE TREATMENT OF RICH AND POOR. 


My Brothers, are you actually trying to combine faith in 
Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the worship of rank ? 
Suppose a man enters your Synagogue, wearing gold rings and 
well-dressed, and suppose a poor man comes in also, dirtil 
dressed, and you are deferential to the man who is well-dressed, 
and say— There is a comfortable seat for you here,” but to 
the poor man—‘‘ You must stand ; or sit down over there by 
my footstool,” is not that, I ask, to make distinctions among 
yourselves, and to show yourselves to be judges full of an 
prejudices ? Listen, my dear Brothers. Has not Go 
chosen that those who are poorin the things of this world 
should be rich through their faith, and should come to possess 
the Kingdom which he has promised to those who love him ? 
But you—you insult the poor man! Is it not the rich who 
oppress you? Is it not sagt who drag you into law-courts? 
Is it not they who malign that honourable Name which has 


17 


26 
27 


Be kd ee 


JAMES, 2. 449 


been given you? Yet if you keep the royal law which, in the 
words of Scripture, runs ‘ Zhou shalt love thy netghbour as 
if he were thyself, you are doing what is right ; but if you wor- 
ship rank, you are committing a sin, and you stand convicted by 
that law of being offenders against it. For a man who 
has laid the Law, as a whole, to heart, but has failed in one 
particular, is liable for breaking all its provisions. He who 
said ‘ Thou shalt not commit adultery, also said ‘ Thou shalt 
not murder.’ If, then, you commit murder but not adultery, 
you are still an offender against the Law. Therefore, speak and 
act as people who are to be judged by the ‘ Law of Freedom.’ 
For there will be justice without mercy for those who have not 
acted mercifully. Mercy asserts her superiority to Justice. 


III.L.—THE CONNEXION BETWEEN FAITH AND CONDUCT. 


My Brothers, what is the good of a man’s saying that he has 
faith, if he does not prove it byactions ? Can such faith save 
him? Suppose some Brother or Sister should be in want of 
clothes and of daily bread, and one of you were ‘to say to 
them—‘‘ Goodbye, and God bless you, I hope you will find 
warmth and food,” and yet you were not to give them the 
necessaries of life, what good would you be doing? In just 
the same way faith, if not followed by actions, is, by itself, a 
lifeless thing. Someone, indeed, may say—‘‘ You are a man of 
faith, andI am a manofaction.” ‘Then show me your faith,” 
I reply, ‘‘ apart from any actions, and I will show you my faith 
by my actions.” Itis an article of your Faith, is it not, that 
there is one God? Good ; yet even the evil spirits hold that, 
and tremble at the thought. Now do you really want to 
understand, you foolish man, how it is that faith without 
action leads to nothing ? Look at our ancestor, 4éraham. 
Was it not due to his actions that he stood right with God, 
after he had offered his son, Isaac, on the altar 2? Youseehow 
in his case faith and actions went together ; that his faith was 
made perfect by his actions; and that in this way the words 
of Scripture came true—‘ 4éraham believed God, and that 
was regarded by God as righteousness,” and ‘‘ He was called 
God's friend.” You all see, then, that it is due to his actions 
that a man stands right with God, and not to his faith only. 
Was it not the same with the prostitute, Rahab? Was it not 
due to her actions that she stood right with God, after she had 
welcomed the messengers and sent them away by a different 
road? Exactly as a body is dead without a spirit, so faith is 
dead without actions. 


8 Lev. 19. 18. 11 Exod. 20. 13—14; Deut. 5. 17—18. 21 Gen, 22. 2,9. 
23 Gen. 15.6; [sa. 41. 8. 


12 


13 


450 JAMES, 3—4, 


IV.—WARNINGS AGAINST CERTAIN FAULTS, 


I do not want many of you, my Brothers, to become 1 3 
teachers, knowing, as you do, that we who teach shall be 
judged by a more severe standard than others. We often 2 
make slips, every oneof us. Any one who does not i 
with his tongue is indeed a perfect man, able to bridle his 
whole body as well. When we put bits into horses’ mouths,to 3 
make them obey us, we control the rest of their bodies) also. 
Think, again, of ships. Large as they are, and even when 4 
driven. by fierce winds, they are controlled by a very small 
rudder and steered in whatever direction the man at the helm 


may determine. So with the tongue. Small as it isj itis a 
reat boaster. Think how tiny a spark may set the, 
orest ablaze! And the tongue is like a spark! Among the 6 


members of our body it proves itself a very world of mischief ; 
it contaminates the whole body; it sets the wheels of life on 
fire, and is itself set on fire by the flames of the Pit. For 7 
while all sorts of beasts and birds, or of reptiles and creatures 
in the sea, are tameable, or actually have been tamed by man, 
no human being can tame thetongue. It isa restlessplague! 8 
It is astore-house of deadly poison ! With it we bless ourLord 9 
and Father, and with it we curse men who are made im God's 
likeness! From the very same mouth come blessings and Io 
curses! Itis not right, my Brothers, that this should be so. 
Does a spring give both good and bad water from the same II 
source? Cana fig tree bear olives, my Brothers? or avine 12 
bear figs? No; norcan a brackish well give good water. 

Where are the wise and intelligent men among you? Let 13 
them show that their actions are the outcome of a life lived in 
the humility of true wisdom. But while you harbourenvy and 14 
bitterness and a spirit of rivalry in your minds, do not assert 
your superiority over or give the lie to the Truth. Thatisnot 15 
the wisdom which comes from above ; it is earthly, animal, and 
devilish. For where envy and rivalry exist, there you will also 16 
find disorder and all kinds of mean actions. But the wisdom 17 
from above is, before anything else, pure. Beyond that it is 
peace-loving, gentle, open to conviction, rich in compassion 
and good deeds, and free from partiality and insincerity, And 1 
righteousness, which is the fruit of this wisdom, is the crop 
that is sown in a peaceful life and which will be harvested by 
those who work for peace. 










What is the cause of the fighting and quarreling that goes /1 4 
on among you? Is it not to be found in the passions which 
‘struggle for the mastery in your bodies? You crave for some- 
thing and do not get it. You commit murder and try you 

9 Gen, x. 26. 


JAMES, 4—5. 451 


utmost to secure the thing and yet you cannot doso. You 
quarrel and fight. You do not get what you want because you 
do not ask. When you ask, you do not get it, because you ask 
for a wrong purpose—to spend what you get upon your plea- 
sures. You unfaithful people! Do you not know that to be 
friends with the world means to be at enmity with God ? There- 
fore any one who chooses to be friends with the world makes 
himselfan enemy toGod. Do you suppose there is no meaning 
in the passage of Scripture which asks—‘ Is envy to result from 
the longings of the Spirit which God has implanted within 
you?’ No; ¢he help which God gives is too great for that ; 
and that is why it is said—‘ Gods opposed to the haughty, but 
gives help to the humble.’ Therefore submit to God ; but 
resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Drawnear to God, 
and he will draw near to you. Make your hands clean, you 
sinners ; and your hearts pure, youvacillating men! Grieve, 
mourn, and lament! Your laughter must be turned into 
mourning, and your happiness into gloom! Humble your- 
selves before the Lord, and ne will exalt you. 

Do not disparage one another, Brothers. Those who dis- 
parage their Brothers, or pass judgment on their Brothers, 
disparage the Law and pass judgment on the Law. But if 
you pass judgment on the Law, you are not obeying it, but 
judging it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge—he who 
has the power both to save and to destroy. But who are you 
who pass judgment on your neighbor ? 


Listen to me, you who say ‘ To-day or to-morrow we will go 
to such and such a town, spend a year there, and trade and 
make money,’ and yet you do not even know what your life will 
be like to-morrow! You are, asit were, a mist appearing for 
a little while and then disappearing. Instead ofthat, you ought 
to say, ‘God willing, we shall do so and so, if we are alive.’ 
But as it is, you pride yourselves on your presumption, though 
allsuch pride iswicked. Therefore those who know how to do 
right and fail to do it—why, that is sin in them ! 

Listen to me, you rich men, weep and wail for the miseries 
that are coming upon you! Your riches have wasted away, 
and your clothes have become moth-eaten. Your gold and 
silver are rusted ; and the rust on them shall be evidence 
against you, and shall eat into your very flesh. You have 
heaped up wealth in these last days—you will find that you have 
heaped upa fre!’ I tell you, the wages of the labourers who 
mowed your fields, which you have been fraudulently keeping 
back, are crying to Heaven, and the protests of your reapers 
have reached ¢he ears of the Lord of Hosts ! Youhave lived on 


6 Prov. 3. 34. % Prov. 16.27. * Deut. 24. 15,17; Mal.3.5; sa. 5.9 


12 


452 JAMES, 5. 


earth a life of extravagance and luxury ; you have indulged your 
fancies in a time of bloodshed. You have condemned, you have 
murdered, the Righteous One! Must he not de against you? 


V.—CONCLUDING EXHORTATIONS. 


Be patient, then, Brothers, till the Coming of the Lord. 
Even a farmer has to wait for the crop so precious to him, 
watching over it patiently, till it has had ¢he spring and sum- 
mer rains. And you must be patient also, and not be discour- 
aged ; for the Lord’s coming is near. Do not make com- 
plaints against one another, Brothers, or judgment will be 
passed upon you. The Judge is already standing at the door ! 
Brothers, as an example of the patient endurance of suffering, 
take the Prophets who spoke in the Name of the Lord. Wecadl 
those who displayed such endurance happy ! You have heard, 
too, of Job’s endurance, and have seen what was the Lord’s pur- 
pose init all, for the Lord zs full of pity and compassion. 

Above all things, my Brothers, never take an oath, either by 
heaven, or by earth, or by anything else. Let your ‘Yes’ 
mean yes and your ‘No’ mean no, so that you may escape 
condemnation. 

When any one of you is in trouble, let him pray; when any 
one feels cheerful, let him sing hymns. When any one of you 
is ill, let him send for the Officers of the Church, and let them 
pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the Name of the 
Lord. The prayer offered in faith will save the man who is 
sick, and the Lord will restore him to health. And if he has 
committed sins, he will be forgiven. So confess your sins to 
one another and pray for one another, that you may be cured. 
The earnest prayer of a good man can do much. Elijah was 
only a man like ourselves, but when he prayed fervently that it 
might not rain, no rain fell upon the land for three years anda 
half. And when he prayed again, the clouds brought rain, and 
the land bore crops. My Brothers, should any one of you 
be led astray from the Truth, and some one bring him back 
again, you may be sure that the man who brings a sinner back 
from his mistaken ways will both save his soul from Death, and 
throw a veil over countless sins. 

5 Yer. 12. 3» 7 Deut. 11.14. ™1 Dan, 12. 12; Ps. 103.8. 2° Prov, 10. 12. 


12 


FROM JOHN—I. 


THE FIRST LETTER OF ST. JOHN: 


PROBABLY WRITTEN AT EPHESUS AFTER 7o a.p. 


Tuis Letter was apparently written by the author of ‘The 
Good News according to John’, who, himself an eye-witness of 
the life of the Christ, is here giving his Apostolic judgement on 
questions of the day. 

It is more of a Homily than a Letter, and was possibly 
intended to circulate among the Churches of Asia Minor. Itis 
probable that it was written after the fall of Jerusalem and 
at a time when the Second Coming of the Christ appeared 
imminent (2. 18). 


FROM 


JOHN_—I. 








I.—INTRODUCTION. 


Our subject is that which was in existence at the Beginning, 
that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our 
own eyes, that which we watched and touched—it treats 
of the Word who is the Life. That Life was actually made 
visible, and we have seen, and now bear our testimony to, and 
tell you of, that enduring Life, which was with the Father and 
was then made visible to us. It is, we repeat, of what we have 
seen and heard that we have to tell you, so that you may have 
fellowship with us. Yes, and fellowship with us means fellow- 
ship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ! And the 
object that we have in writing to you is that nothing may be 
wanting to complete our happiness. 


II.—TuHE ApostLe’s MESSAGE. 


This then is the Message that we have heard from Jesus 
Christ and now tell to you—‘God is Light, and Darkness has 
no place at all in him.’ 

If we say that we have fellowship with him, while we still 
live on in the Dark, we are liars, and we are not acting up to 
the Truth. But if our lives are lived in the Light, as God 
himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, 
and the sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, purifies us from every 
sin. If we say that there is nothing sinful in us, we 
are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth has no place in us; 
while if we confess our sins, God, just and true as he is, will 
forgive us our sins and purify us from all that is bad. 

If we say that we have not sinned, we are making God a liar, 
and his Message has no place in us. 

My Children, I am writing to you to keep you from sinning ; 
but if any one should sin, we have Jesus Christ, who is 
righteous, to plead for us with the Father, and he is himself 
the atoning sacrifice for our sins—and not for ours only, but 
for those of the whole world besides. This is how we 
can tell whether we know him—by our laying his commands 


456 I. JOHN, 2. 


to heart. Those who say ‘I know Jesus,’ and yet do not lay 
his commands to heart, are liars, and the Truth has no place 
in them ; while in all who lay his Message to heart the love 
of God has truly reached perfection. This is how we 
can tell whether we are in union with Christ—Those who 
declare that they are always in union with him are bound 
themselves to live as he lived. 


Dear friends, it is no new command that I am writing to 
you, but an old one, which you have had from the first. That 
old command is identical with the Message which you re- 
ceived, Yet, from another point of view, it is a new Command 
that I am writing to you—a thing which is manifest in Christ’s 
life and in your own; fqr the Darkness is passing away and 
the true Light already shining. 

Those who say that they are in the Light, and yet hate 
their Brothers, are in Darkness to this very hour. Those who 
love their Brothers are always in the Light, and there is 
nothing within them to cause them to stumble; while those 
who hate their Brothers are in Darkness, and are living in 
Darkness, and do not know where they are going, because the 
Darkness prevents their seeing. 

I am writing, Children, to you, because your sins have been 
forgiven you for Christ’s sake. I am writing, Fathers, to you, 
because you know him who was at the Beginning. I am 
writing, Young Men, to you, because you have mastered the 
Evil One. I write, Children, to you, because you know the 
Father. I write, Fathers, to you, because you know him who 
was at the Beginning. I write, Young Men, to you, because 
you are strong, and God’s Message is always in your thoughts, 
and you have mastered the Evil One. Do not love the 
world or what the world has to offer. In any one who loves 
the world there is no love for the Father; for all that the 
world has to offer—the things that our bodies crave for, the 
things that our eyes crave for, and a pretentious life—has its 
source, not in the Father, but in the world. And the world 
with its cravings is passing away, but those who do God’s will 
live for ever. 


III.—WARNINGS AGAINST ANTI-CHRIST. 


My Children, these are the last days. You were told that 
an Anti-Christ was coming, and many Anti-Christs have arisen 
already. From this we may learn that these are the last days. 
Though they started from us, they did not really belong to us; 
for had they really belonged to us, they would have remained 
among us. They left us that it might be made clear that they 
do not, any of them, belong to us. You Christians, however, 
have been consecrated by the Holy One. You all know——But 


18 


I. JOHN, 2—3. 457 


I need not say that, for I am not writing to you because you 
do not know the Truth, but because you do know it, and 
because nothing false can come from the Truth. 

Who is a liar, if it is not the man that rejects Jesus as the 
Christ ? I will tell you who the Anti-Christ is—the man who 
rejects the Father and the Son. All who reject the Son have 
not found the Father either, while those who acknowledge the 
Son have found the Father also. As for yourselves, let 
what you were told at the first be always in your thoughts. If 
it is, you yourselves will be always in union, not only with the 
Son, but with the Father. And what he himself promised us 
is this—enduring Life ! 

When I write to you in this way, I am thinking of those 
who are leading you astray. As for you, you still retain in your 
hearts the consecration which you received from the Christ. 
You are, therefore, in no need of any one to teach you; but 
since you are taught about everything by his consecration, 
and since that is a real consecration, and no sham, then remain 
always in union with him, as he taught you to do. And 
so, my Children, I repeat, remain always in union with Christ, 
so that, if he should appear, our confidence may not fail us, 
and we may not be ashamed to face him at his coming. If 
you know him to be righteous, you may also be sure that every 
one who does what is right has derived his Life from him. 


IV.—THE PRIVILEGES AND DUTIES OF THE SONS OF GOD. 


Think what love the Father has shown us in allowing us to 
be called ‘God’s Children’; as indeed we are. The reason 
why the world does not know what we are is because it has 
not learnt to know him. Dear friends, we are God’s 
Children now ; what we shall be in the future has not yet been 
revealed. What we do know is that, if it should be revealed, 
we shall be like Christ ; because we shall see him as he really 
is. And every one who has this hope in regard to Christ tries 
to make himself pure—pure as Christ is. 

Every one who acts sinfully is also acting in defiance of 
Law ; sin is defiance of Law. You know that Christ appeared 
in order to take away our sins, and that in him Sin has no 
place. No one who remains always in union with him lives 
in sin; no one who lives in sin has ever really seen him or 
learnt to know him. My Children, do not let any one 
lead you astray ; those who do what is right are righteous— 
righteous as Christ is. Those who act sinfully belong to the 
Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the first. The object for 
which the Son of God appeared was that he might undo the 
Devil’s work. 

No one who has derived his Life from God acts sinfully, 
because God’s very nature is always within him ; and he cannot 


22 
23 
24 


- 


25 


26 
27 


28 


ze 


on DN UN & 


358 I. JOHN, 3—4. 


live in sin, because he has derived his Life from God. It is by 
this that God’s Children are distinguished from the Children 
of the Devil—No one who fails to do right belongs to God, 
nor do they who fail to love their Brothers. For this is the 
Message which we were told at the first—‘ Love one another.’ 
We must not be like Cain who belonged to the Evil One, and 
killed his brother. And why was it that he killed him? It 
was because his life was bad while his brother's was good. 


Do not wonder, Brothers, at the world’s hating you. 
We, for our part, know that we have passed out of Death 
into Life just because we love our Brothers. Any one who 
does not love remains in a state of Death. Every one who 
hates his Brother is really a murderer ; and you know that no 
murderer has enduring Life within him. 

We have learnt what love is from this—that Christ gave up 
his life on our behalf. Therefore we also ought to give up our 
lives on behalf of our Brothers. But if any one has worldly 
possessions, and yet looks on while his Brother is in want, and 
steels his heart against him, how can it be true of him that he 
has the love of God within him ? My Children, do not let 
our love be mere words, or end in talk ; let it be real and true. 

In this way we shall find that we are on the side of the Truth; 
and so we shall satisfy ourselves in God’s sight, that if our con- 
science should find fault with us, still God is greater than our 
conscience and finds out everything. Dear friends, if 
our conscience should find no fault with us, then we approach 
God with confidence, and receive from him whatever we ask 
for, because we are laying his commands to heart, and are doing 
what is pleasing in his sight. His Command is this—that we 
should put our trust in his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one 
another, in accordance with the Command that he gave us. 
And those who lay his commands to heart continue in union 
with Christ, and Christ with them. And we may assure our- 
selves that Christ continues in union with us by this—from our 
possession of the Spirit which he gave us, 


V.—TRUE AND FALSE INSPIRATION CONTRASTED. 


Dear friends, do not trust every inspiration, but test each in- 
spiration, to see whether it proceeds from God ; because many 
pretended Prophets have gone out into the world, 

Here is the way in which to recognize the inspiration of 
God—All inspiration that acknowledges Jesus Christ, as having 
come with our human nature, is from God; whiie all inspiration 
that will not acknowledge Jesus is not inspiration from God. 
It is the inspiration of the Anti-Christ ; you have heard that it 
was to come, and it is now already in the world. 

You, my Children, belong to God, and you have successfully 


10 


I. JOHN, 4—5. 459 


resisted such men as these, because he who inspires your life 
is greater than he who inspires that of the world. Those men 
belong to the world ; and therefore they speak as the world 
speaks, and the world listens to them. We, however, belong 
to God. All who learn to know God listen to us, and those 
who do not belong to God do not listen to us. By that we may 
distinguish the inspiration that leads to the Truth from the 
inspiration that leads to Error. 


VI.—Love or GoD AND LOVE oF MAN. 


Dear friends, let us love one another, because Love comes 
from God ; and all who love have derived their Life from God 
and are learning to know him. Those who do not love have not 
learnt to know God; for God is Love. God’s love was 
revealed among us by his sending his only Son into the world, 
that we might find Life through him. The love is seen in 
this—not in our having loved God, but in his loving us and 
sending his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 

Dear friends, since God loved us like this, we, surely, ought 
to love one another. No human eyes have ever seen God; 
yet if we love one another, God is living in union with us, and 
his love attains its perfection in us. We may know that we 
are living in union with him, and he with us, by this—by his 
having given us some measure of his Spirit. Further, 
our eyes have seen—and we are testifying to the fact—that the 
Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Who- 
ever acknowledges Jesus Christ as the Son of God—God is 
living in union with that man, and he with God. Further 
still, we have learnt to know, and have accepted as a fact, the 
love with which God regards us. : 

God is Love; and all who are living in a spirit of love are 
living in union with God, and God with them. It is in 
this that the perfection which love has attained with us is 
seen—so that we may have confidence on the Day of 
Judgement—in our being, even in this world, what Christ him- 
self is. There is no fear in love. On the contrary, love, when 
perfect, drives out fear, for fear implies punishment, and those 
who feel fear have not attained to perfect love. We 
love, because God first loved us. If aman says that he loves 
God, and yet hates his Brother, he is a liar ; for if a man does 
not love his Brother whom he has seen, he cannot possibly love 
God whom he has not seen. Indeed, we have this Command 
from God—‘ Those who love God must also love their Brothers,’ 


VII.—CuristTian Love, FaiTH, AND LIFE. 


Every one who believes Jesus to be the Christ has God for 
his Father; and every one who loves the Father loves his 


lo) 


17 


18 


us) 
20 


21 


460 I. JOHN, 5. 


Children also. We may know that we love God’s Children 
when we love God and carry out his commands. For to love 
God is to lay his commands to heart; and indeed his com- 
mands are not burdensome, because all that has derived its 
Life from God masters the world. This is the power that has 
mastered the world—our faith ! Who are they that master the 
world except those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God? 

He it is whose Coming was attested by means of 
Water and Blood—Jesus Christ himself ; not by Water only, 
but by Water and by Blood. The Spirit also bears testimony, 
and the Spirit is Truth itself. There is a three-fold testimony— 
that of the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood—and these three 
are atone. We accept the testimony of men, but God's testi- 
mony is stronger still. For it is this—that he has already 
borne his testimony about his Son. Those who believe in the 
Son of God have that testimony within themselves. Those who 
do not believe God have made him a liar, by refusing to 
believe in that testimony which God has borne about his Son. 
That testimony consists in the fact that God gave us enduring 
Life, and that this Life is to be found in his Son. Those who 
find the Son find Life, while those who fail to find the Son of 
God fail also to find Life. 

I am writing all this to you, that you may know that you have 
found enduring Life—all of you, that is, who believe in the Son 
of God. And this is the confidence with which we approach 
him, that whenever we ask anything that is in accordance with 
his will, he is listening to us. Then, if we know that he is 
listening to us—whatever we ask—we know that we have 
gained the requests which we have made to him. If any 
one sees his Brother committing some sin that is not a deadly 
sin, he will pray for him, and so will be the means of giving 
him Life—I am speaking only of those whose sin is not deadly. 
There is such a thing as deadly sin ;_ in that case I do not say 
that a man should pray. Every wrong action is a sin, and 
there is sin that is not deadly. 

We know that no one who has derived his Life from God 
lives in sin. On the contrary, those who have derived their 
Life from God keep the thought of God in their minds, and 
then the Evil One does not touch them. We know that we 
belong to God, while all the world is under the influence of the 
Evil One. We know, too, that the Son of God has come among 
us, and has given us discernment to recognize the True God ; 
and we are in union with the True God by our union with his 
Son, Jesus Christ. He is the True God and he is enduring 
_, Life. My Children, guard yourselves against false ideas 

of Go 


nan & WN 


eo 


Io 


21 


FROM PETER—I. 


A LETTER TO THE CHRISTIANS OF 
ASIA MINOR. 


(KNOWN AS THE FIRST LETTER OF 
ST. PETER). j 


PROBABLY WRITTEN FROM ROME BETWEEN 
65 AND 68 a.D. 


Tus Letter was evidently written at a time when the 
Christians throughout Asia Minor were suffering from calumny 
and persecution. Such hints as we get from it of their suffer- 
ings (2.12; 3.16; 4. 4,14 and 1. 6,7 ; 3.14—17 ; 4.12—49) fit 
in well with the accounts, obtainable from other sources, of the 
persecution of Christians that broke out under the Emperor 
Nero in 64 A.D., and spread all over the Roman Empire. The 
object of the Letter is to give encouragement under persecu- 
tion ; and those to whom it is addressed probably included 
ae of heathen, as well as of Jewish, birth (1. 21; 2. 10; 
3. 6). 


FROM 


PETE R—I. 





I,— GREETING. 


From Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, 

To those of the Chosen People who are living abroad, scat- 
tered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Roman 
Asia, and Bithynia, and whose place among the Chosen 
People is in accordance with the foreknowledge of God 
the Father, is accompanied by the consecration of the 
Spirit, and is given you that you may learn obedience, 
and may be sprinkled with the purifying blood of Jesus 
Christ. 

May God bless you more and more, and give you still greater 
peace. 


II.—CHRISTIAN SALVATION. 


Praise be to the God and Father of Jesus Christ, our Lord, 
who, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 
has, in his great mercy, given us a new Life of undying hope, 
so that we may share in that imperishable, stainless, and 
unfading inheritance which is reserved for you in Heaven— 
for you who, through your faith, are being safely guarded 
by the power of God, so that you may attain to a Salvation 
which is ready to be revealed in the last days. At the 
thought of this you are full of exultation, though now (if 
it has been necessary) you have suffered for a time from 
various trials. And you have suffered thus in order that 
the genuineness of your faith—a thing far more precious 
than gold, which is perishable, but yet has to be tested by 
fire—may bring you praise and glory and honour at the 
Appearing of Jesus Christ. You have never seen him, and yet 
you love him. And though you do not even now see him, yet 
you believe in him and exult with a triumphant happiness too 
great for words, as you receive the reward of your faith in 
the Salvation of your souls! It was to this Salvation that the 
Prophets, whose theme was the blessings intended for you, 


464 I. PETER, 1—2. 


directed their inquiries and researches. They were searching 
to find out what they could about the time to which the 
Spirit of Christ within them was pointing, when foretelling 
the sufferings which would befall Christ and the glories which 
would follow. And it was revealed to them that it was not 
for themselves, but for you, that they were acting as Ministers 
of the truths which have now been told you, with the help 
of the Spirit sent from Heaven, by those who have brought 
you the Good News. They are truths into which even angels 
are longing to look. 


IJI.—PRracTIcAL EXHORTATIONS, 


Therefore brace up your minds, and exercise the strictest 
self-control, and fix your hopes on the blessings that are 
coming for you at the Appearing of Jesus Christ. Be like 
obedient children ; do not let your lives be shaped by the 
passions which once swayed you in the days of your ignorance, 
but in your whole life show yourselves to be holy, after the 
pattern of the Holy One from whom you received your Call. 
For Scripture says—“ You shall be holy, because Tam holy.” And 
since you call him ‘ Father, who judges every one impartially 
by what they have done, let reverence be the spirit of your 
lives during your stay here. For you know that it was zot by 
such perishable things as si/ver and gold that you were ransomed 
from the aimless life in which you were brought up, but by 
the precious blood of Christ, who was sacrificed like a lamb, 
unblemished and spotless. He was, indeed, destined for this 
before the beginning of the world, but he has been revealed 
in these last days for the sake of you who, through him, are 
faithful to God who raised him from the dead and gave him 
honour, so that your faith and hope are now in God. 

By your obedience to the Truth you have purified your 
lives, so that there is now growing up among you a genuine 
brotherly affection. Therefore love one another earnestly 
with all your hearts. Your new Life came from an im- 
perishable, not a perishable, source, at the word of the Zver- 
living God. For 

“* The life of all men is like grass, 
And all its splendour is like the flower of the grass. 
The grass fades, 
ts flower falls, 
But the words of the Lord live for ever.” 

And these are the words of the Good News which has been 
told to you. Free yourselves, then, from all malice, 
from all deceitfulness, from insincerity, from jealous feelings, 
and from every approach to slander. Like newly born infants, 


16 Lev. 11. 44; 19. 2; 20.7. 1 er. 3.19. Ilsa. 52.3. 3 Dan. 6. 26. 
24—25 ssa. 40. 





II 


12 


16, 17 


22 


23 


I 


2 


I. PETER, 2. 465 


crave for pure spiritual milk, so that you may be enabled by it to 
grow till you attain Salvation—since you have found by experience 
the kindness of the Lord. Come to Christ, then, as toa living stone, 
rejected, it is true, by men, but in God's eyes choice and 
precious ; and as living stones, build yourselves up to form a 
spiritual House for a consecrated Priesthood, for the offering 
of spiritual sacrifices that will be acceptable to God through 
Jesus Christ. For there is a passage of Scripture that runs— 
“ See, Tam placing in Zion a choice and precious corner-stone ; 
And those who believe in him shall never be ashamed.” 
It is to you who believe in him that he is precious, but to those 
who do not he is ‘a stone which, though rejected by the builders, 
has now itself become the corner-stone, and a stone which will prove 
a stumbling-block and a rock over which people will trip’ They 
stumble because they do not accept the Message. This was 
the fate destined for them. You, however, are a chosen race, 
a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, God's own People, entrusted 
with the proclamation of the goodness of him who called you out 
of Darkness into his wonderful Light. Once you were zot a 
people at all, but now you are God’s People ; once you had found 
no mercy, now you have found mercy. 


Dear friends, I urge you, as pilgrims and strangers upon earth, 
to refrain from indulging the cravings of your earthly nature, 
for they make war upon the soul. Keep your daily life among 
the heathen strictly upright, so that, whenever they speak 
against you as evil-doers, they may learn, as they watch you, 
from the uprightness of your conduct, to praise God at the time 
when he shall visit them. 


Submit to all human institutions for the Lord’s sake, alike to 
the king as the supreme authority, and to governors as the 
men sent by him to punish evil-doers and commend those 
who do right. For God’s will is this—that you should 
silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing what is right. 
You are free men; yet do not use your freedom as a cloak for 
wickedness, but remember that you are God’s servants. Show 
deference to every one. Be loving to the whole Brotherhood, 
reverent to God, deferential to the king. 

Those of you who are domestic servants should always be 
submissive and respectful to their masters, not only to those 
who are good and considerate, but also to those who are 
unfair. For it is a beautiful thing when, as a matter of 
conscience before God, a man who is suffering unjustly bears 

3 Ps. 34.8. 4—7 Ps. 118.22; Isa. 28.16. 8 Isa. 8.14, 15. 9 Isa. 43. 20—21; 


Exod. 19. 5—6. 10 Hos. 1. 6—9; 2. 1, 23. U Ps. 39. 12, © Isa. 10. 3 
W Prov. 24. 21. 


Io 


II 


I2 


13 
14 
15 
16 
17 


18 


19 


466 I. PETER, 2—3. 


his troubles patiently. What credit can you claim when you 
do wrong and take your punishment for it patiently? But on 
the other hand, if, when you are doing right, you take your 
sufferings patiently, that is beautiful in God's eyes. Why, it 


was to this that you were called! For Christ, too, suffered— 


suffered on your behalf—and left you an example, so that you 
should follow in his steps. He never did wrong, nor was anything 
deceitful ever heard from his lips. He was abused, but he did 
not answer back ; he suffered, but he did not threaten ; he 
entrusted himself to him whose judgements are just. He 
himself carried our sins in his own person to the cross, so that 
we might die to our sins, and live for righteousness, His 
bruising was your healing. Once you were straying like sheep, 
but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of 
your souls. 

So again, you married women should submit to your hus- 
bands, in order that if a man rejects the Message, he may, 
without a word being said, be won over, through the conduct 
of his wife, by watching her submissive and blameless conduct. 
A woman’s attractions should not depend on such external 
things as the arrangement of her hair, the jewellery she 
wears, or the style of her dress, but upon her inner life—the 
imperishable beauty of a quiet and gentle spirit; for this is 
very precious in God’s sight. That was how those holy 
women of old, who placed their hopes in God, made them- 
selves attractive. They submitted to their husbands ; as, for 
example, Sarah, who obeyed Abraham, and called him master. 
And you are her true children, as long as you live good lives, 
and show no fear. 

Again, you married men should live in the proper relation 
with your wives, showing consideration for a woman’s sex 
as weaker than your own, and not forgetting that you share 
with them in the gift of Life. Then you will be able to pray 
without hindrance. 

Lastly, you should all be united, sympathetic, full of brotherly 
love, kind-hearted, and humble-minded. You should never 
return evil for evil, or abuse for abuse, but always a blessing 
instead. It was for this that you received your Call—to 
obtain a blessing ! 

“ He who would enjoy life 
And experience happy days— 
Let him keep his tongue from evil 
And his lips from deceitful words, 
Let him turn from evil and do good, 
Let him seek for peace and follow after it ; 
For the eyes of the Lord are on the upright, 
And his ears are attentive to their prayers, 
But the Lord frowns upon those who do wrong.” 


22—25 Jsa. 53. 5—12. 8 Gen. 18.12; Prov. 3.25. W—l2 Ps. 34. 12—16. 
3 34 


nanan & WN 


I. PETER, 3-4 467 


Who, indeed, is there to harm you, if you prove yourselves 
eager for what is good? Yet even if you should suffer for 
the right, count yourselves happy! Do ot let man frighten 
you ; and do not allow yourselves to be distressed. Reverence the 
Christ as Zord in your hearts; and always be ready to give 
an answer to any one who asks your reason for the hope that 
you cherish, but give it calmly and respectfully. Keep your 
consciences clear, so that, whenever you are abused, those 
who vilify your good and Christian conduct may be put to 
shame. It is better that you should suffer, if that should be 
God’s will, for doing right, than for doing wrong. For Christ 
himself died to atone for sins once for all—the good on 
behalf of the bad—so that he might bring you to God. His 
body died, but his spirit rose to new Life. And it was then 
that he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits, who 
had once been disobedient, at the time when God patiently 
waited, in the days of Noah, while the ark was being pre- 
pared ; in which some few lives, eight in all, were saved by 
means of water. And baptism, which this foreshadowed, 
now saves you—not the mere cleansing of the body, but the 
search of a clear conscience after God. And your Salvation 
is brought about by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has 
gone into Heaven, and is now at God's right hand, where 
angelic Beings of every rank yield submission to him. 

Since, then, Christ suffered in our earthly nature, arm your- 
selves with the same resolve as he did. Those who suffer 
through their earthly nature have done with sins, and so will 
live the rest of their earthly lives guided, not by man’s desires, 
but by the will of God. Surely you have spent enough time 
in the past living as the heathen delight to live. For your 
path has lain among scenes of debauchery, licentiousness, 
drunkenness, revelry, hard-drinking, and wicked idolatry. In 
these things people are astonished at your not running to the 
same extremes of profligacy as they do; and they abuse you 
for it. But they will have to answer for their conduct to him 
who is prepared to judge both the living and the dead. (This 
was why the Good News was told even to the dead—that 
though their earthly nature will be judged, as must be with 
men, their spirits should live as God himself lives). 


However, the end of everything is near. Therefore exer- 
cise self-restraint and watchfulness, to help you to pray. 
Above all things, let your love for one another be very 
earnest, for Love throws a veil over countless sims. Never 
grudge hospitality to one another. Use in mutual service 
such gifts as you have each received, dispensing faithfully 
God’s many-sided generosity. If any one has to speak, let 
him speak as an oracle of God. If any one has to act as an 

14—15 Jsa. 8. 12—13. = Ps. 110.1. 8 Prov. 10. 12 (Hebrew). 


21 


22 


HO ©0O 


368 I. PETER, 4—5. 


Assistant-Officer, let him do so in reliance on the power which 
God supplies ; so that in everything God may honoured 
through Jesus Christ—to whom be ascribed all honour and 
might for ever and ever, Amen. 


IV.—CHRISTIANS MUST BE PREPARED FOR SUFFERING. 


Dear friends, do not be astonished at the fiery trials that 
are befalling you to test you, as though something strange 
were happening to you, but be glad if you are to any extent 
sharing the sufferings of the Christ—so that, when the time 
comes for the manifestation of his Glory, you may be glad and 
rejoice. If you are reviled for bearing the name of Christ, count 
yourselves happy! For the divine Glory and the Spirit of God 
are resting upon you. None of you, of course, must suffer 
as a murderer, or a thief, or criminal in other ways, or 
as a meddlesome busybody. But if a man suffers for 
being a Christian, do not let him be ashamed of it; let him 
under that name bring honour to God. For the time has 
come for punishment éo begin with the House of God ; and if it 
begins with us, what will be the end of those who reject God’s 
Good News? If a@ good man is only saved with di i 
what will become of the godless and the sinful? Therefore, I say, 
let those who suffer, because God wills it so, commit their 
lives into the hands of a faithful Creator, and persevere in 
doing right. 


V.—SPECIAL AND GENERAL EXHORTATIONS, 


As for the older men among you, who are Officers of the 
Church, I, their fellow-Officer, and a witness to the sufferings 
of the Christ, who shall also share in the glory that is to be 
revealed—I urge you to be true shepherds of the flock of God 
among you, not because you are compelled, but of your own 
free will; not from a base love of gain, but with a ready 
spirit ; not as lords of your charges, but as examples to your 
flock. Then, when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will 
win no fading wreath, but a crown of glory. So again, 
the younger men among you should show deference to the 
older. And all of you should behave with humility 


towards one another, for God opposes the proud, but helps the 
humble. 


Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of 


44 Ps. 89. so—51; Isa. 11.2, W Ezek. 9.6. 18 Prov.11.31. 5 Prov. 3. 34- 


12 


13 


14 
15 
16 
17 


18 
19 


Ub & 


I. PETER, 5. 169 


God, so that he may exalt you in his good time. Throw all 
your anxieties upon him, for he makes you his care. 
Exercise self-control, and be watchful. Your opponent, the 
Devil, like a roaring lion, is prowling about eager to devour 
you. Stand firm against him, strong in your faith ; knowing, 
as you do, that the very same sufferings as you are undergoing 
are being laid upon the world-wide Christian Brotherhood. 

God from whom all help comes, and who called you, 
by your union with Christ, into his enduring glory, will, when 
you have suffered for a little while, himself perfect, establish, 
and strengthen you. To him be ascribed dominion for ever. 
Amen. 


VI.—MESSAGES AND BLESSING. 


I have been writing to you briefly by the hand of Silas, 
our true-hearted Brother (for so I reckon him), that I may 
encourage you, and bear my testimony that what I have 
written contains the truth about the love of God. On that 


take your stand. Your sister-Church in ‘ Babylon’ 
sends you good wishes, and so does Mark, who is asa son to 
me. Greet one another with the kiss of love. 


May God bless all you who are in union with Christ. 
7 Ps. 55. 22 


ba | 


Io 


If 


i2 


13 
14 





FROM PETER—IL. 


A LETTER TO CHRISTIAN PEOPEE 
(KNOWN AS THE SECOND LETTER OF ST. PETER). 


[DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING UNCERTAIN. ] 


Tuis Letter is addressed to Christians in general, and is 
mainly directed against the separation of Christianity from a holy 
life. It also contains an assertion of the certainty of the 
‘Second Coming’ of the Christ, though at a time which might 
still be far off according to human reckoning. The re- 
semblances of this Letter to the ‘Letter of St. Jude, and to 
the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus, are most >- 
markable. 


FROM 


PETER—II. 


I.--GREETING AND EXHORTATION. 


To those to whom, in the righteousness of our God and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, there has been given faith as 
precious as our own, 

From Simon Peter, a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ. 

May you find still fuller blessing and peace in an ever- 
increasing knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord. 

For his divine power has given us everything that is neces- 

sary for Life and for true religion, through an increasing 

knowledge of him whose Call drew us by the attraction of his 
glory and goodness. In this way he has given all that we 
prized as the greatest of his promised gifts, in order that by 
their help you might come to share in the divine nature, 
now that you have escaped from the corrupting influences 
in the world, which work through our passions. And 
for this very reason take every care to see that your 
faith is not severed from a good life, or goodness from 
knowledge, or knowledge from self-control, or self-control 
from endurance, or endurance from devoutness, or devoutness 
from brotherly affection. For when these virtues are 
yours in abundance, they prevent your being indifferent 
to, or destitute of, a fuller knowledge of Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. Surely the man who has not these virtues 
is shortsighted even to blindness, and has forgotten that he 
has been purified from his sins of the past. Therefore, 

Brothers, spare no effort to put God’s Call and Choice of you 

beyond all doubt ; for if you do this, there is no fear of your 

ever falling. Indeed you will thus have a triumphant admis- 
sion into the enduring Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, 

Jesus Christ. 


CONT OV 


Io 


It 


aT Il. PETER, 1—2. 


II.—THE TRANSFIGURATION A GROUND FOR THE ASSERTION 
OF THE ‘SECOND COMING’ OF THE CHRIST. 


I shall, therefore, always be ready to remind you of all 
this, even though you know it now and are firmly established 
in the Truth as you now know it. ButI think it my duty, as long 
as I live in the tent of my body, to rouse you by awakening 
memories of the past; for I know that the time for this 
‘tent’ of mine to be put away is soon coming, as Jesus Christ, 
our Master, himself assured me. So I will do my best to 
enable you, at any time after my departure, to call these truths 
to mind. For it was not by following cleverly devised stories 
that we were able to tell you of the Coming in power of Jesus 
Christ, our Lord, but because we were permitted to be eye- 
witnesses of his majesty. For he received glory and honour 
from God the Father, when from the Glory of the Divine 
Majesty there were borne to his ears such significant words as 
these—“ This is my Son, my beloved, in whom I delight.” 
These were the words that we heard, borne to our ears from 
Heaven, when we were with him on that Sacred Mountain. 
And still stronger is the assurance that we have in the teaching 
of the Prophets ; to which you will do well to pay attention, 
as you would to the light of a lamp in a gloomy place, until 
the Day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts. 
First be clear on this point :—There is no prophetic teaching 
in Scripture that can be interpreted by man’s unaided reason ; 
for no prophetic teaching ever came at a man’s wish, but the 
Prophets were moved by the holy Spirit, and so spoke at the 
prompting of God, mere men though they were. 


III.— WARNING AGAINST THE SEPARATION OF CHRISTIANITY 
FROM HOLY LIVING. 


But there were pretended prophets also in the nation, just 
as there will be pretended teachers among you. These men 
will be the secret cause of divisions that will end in Ruin. 
They will disown even the Lord who bought them, and so 
bring speedy Ruin upon themselves. There will be many, too, 
who will follow their licentious courses, amd so cause the Way 
of the Truth o de maligned. In their coveteousness they 
will try to make you a source of profit by their fabrications ; 
but for a long time past their Sentence has not been standing 
idle, nor their Ruin slumbering. Remember, God did not 
spare angels when they had sinned, but sent them down to 
Tartarus, to be chained in ‘darkness’ and kept under guard 


2 Jsa. 52.5. 4% Enoch ro. 6, 13. 


21 


— 


II. PETER, 2. X18 


in readiness for their ‘trial.’ Nor did he spare the world of 
old, though he preserved Noah, the Preacher of Righteous- 
ness, and seven others, when he brought a flood upon the 
godless world. He condemned the cities of Sodom and 
Gomorrah and reduced them to ashes, holding them up asa 
warning to the godless of what was in store for them; 
but he rescued righteous Lot, whose heart was vexed by the 
wanton licentiousness of his neighbours. For, from what he 
saw and heard of them, living, as he did, a righteous life 
among them, day after day, Lot’s righteous soul was tortured 
by their wicked doings. The Lord, therefore, knows how to 
rescue the religious from temptation, and to keep the wicked, 
who are even now suffering punishment, in readiness for 
‘the Day of Judgement’— especially those who obey the 
promptings of their earthly nature, indulging their polluting 
passions and despising all control. Audacious and self-willed, 
they feel no awe of the Great, but actually speak in condem- 
nation of them, even in cases where Angels, their superiors in 
strength and power, avoid speaking evil and bringing ac- 
cusations before the Lord. These men, however, like animals 
who have no reason and whose very nature shows them to 
have been made to be caught and killed—these men, I say, 
even speak evil of those about whom they know nothing, and 
will assuredly perish through their very corruption, suffering 
themselves as the penalty for the suffering that they have 
inflicted. They think that pleasure consists in the self- 
indulgence of the moment. They are a stain and a disgrace, 
when they join you at your feasts and indulge in their 
seductive revels. They have only eyes for adulteresses, eyes 
that are never tired of sin; they entice persons of weak 
character ; their minds are trained to covet ; they live under 
a curse. Leaving the straight road, they have gone astray and 
followed in the steps of Balaam, the son of Beor, who set his 
heart on the reward for wrong-doing, but was rebuked for his 
offence, for a dumb animal spoke with a human voice and 
checked the prophet’s madness. These men are like wells 
without water, or mists driven before a gale; and for them 
the blackest darkness is reserved. With boastful and foolish 
talk, they appeal to the passions of men’s earthly nature, and, 
by their immorality, entice people who are just escaping from 
those that live such misguided lives. They promise them 
. freedom, while they themselves are slaves to corrupt habits; 
for a man is the slave of anything to which he gives way. If, 
after having escaped the polluting influences of the world, 
through knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, men are 
again entangled in, and give way to, these influences, their last 
state has become worse than their first. It would, indeed, 
have been better for them not to have known the Way of 
9 Enoch ro. 6. 


Io 


II 


I2 


13 


14 


15 
16 


17 
18 


ue) 


20 


21 


416 II. PETER, 2—3. 


Righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn away from the 
holy Command delivered to them. It has been with thema 
true case of the proverb—‘ A dog returns to what he has vomited’ 
a ‘A Sr after washing herself to her wallowing-place in 
the mu 


IV.—A RE-ASSERTION OF THE ‘SECOND COMING’ OF THE 
CHRIST. 


This, dear friends, makes my second letter to you. In both 
of them I have tried, by appealing to your recollection, to 
arouse your better feelings. I want you to recall what was 
foretold by the holy Prophets, as well as the Command of our 
Lord and Saviour, given to you through the Apostles who 
brought you the Message. Recognise this fact first, that, as 
the age draws to an end, scoffers will come who will be led 
by their own passions, scoffingly asking—‘ What has become 
of his promised Coming? Ever since our fathers passed to 
their rest, everything remains just as it has been since the world 
was first created!’ They wilfully choose to forget that the 
heavens existed long ago, and also the earth having been formed 
out of water and by the action of water at the bidding of God ; 
and that by the very same means the world which then existed 
was destroyed in a deluge of water. But the present heavens 
and earth, at the same bidding, have been reserved for fire, 
and are being kept for the day of the judgement and de- 
struction of the godless. 

This one fact you must never forget, dear friends, that to the 
Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like 
one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise, as some 
people consider him slow. He is, however, patient with you, 
as he is unwilling that any of you should perish, but wishes all 
to be brought to repentance. The Day of the Lord will 
come like a thief. The heavens will pass away on that day 
with a crash, the elements will be burnt up and dissolved, and 
the earth and all that is in it will be disclosed. Now, as 
all these things are in the process of dissolution, think what 
kind of men you should be—what holy and religious lives you 
should lead, while you are waiting for and helping forward the 
coming of the Day of God. At its coming the heavens will be 
dissolved in fire and the elements melted by heat, but we look 
for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness shall have 
its home, in fulfilment of God’s promise. 

Therefore, dear friends, in expectation of these things, make 
every effort to be found by him spotless, blameless, and at 
peace. You must regard our Lord’s patience as your only 
hope of Salvation. This is what our dear Brother Paul wrote 

22 Prov. 26.11. 8 Ps. go. 4. 1218 Jsa. 33. 4; 65. 17; 66. 22, 


10 


Il 


15 


II. PETER, 3. a7 


to you, with the wisdom that God gave him. Itisthesamein 16 
all his letters. He always speaks in them about these subjects. 
There are some things in them difficult to understand, which 
people of no learning and of weak character twist, just as they 

do all other writings, to their own ruin. You there- 17 
fore, dear friends, now that you know this beforehand, must 

be on your guard against being led away by the errors of 
reckless people, and so lapsing from your present stedfastness. 
May you continue to advance through the help and knowledge 18 
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Ali glory be to him 
now and for ever. 





FROM JUDE. 


A LETTER TO CHRISTIAN CONVERTS 
FROM JUDAISM. 


(KNOWN AS THE LETTER OF ST. JUDE). 


PERHAPS WRITTEN IN PALESTINE ABOUT 8o ap. 


Tuis Letter seems to have been written by the Jude (or 
Judas) who was a “brother of James,” and so a brother of 
Jesus. Neither this Judas nor his brother James, the writer 
of a previous Letter, were Apostles. It was, perhaps, written 
in Palestine ; and the historical allusions in it make it likely 
that the Letter was addressed to Christians of Jewish origin. 
It is full of resemblances to ‘the Second Letter of St. 
Peter,’ and consists of a stern denunciation of those nominal 
Christians who were using their Christianity as a cover for 
an evil life. 


FROM 
JUDE. 


I.—GREETING. 


To those who, having received the Call, are dear to God the 
Father, and are kept in safety for Jesus Christ, 

FROM Jude, the brother of James, and a servant of God the 
Father. 

a you find an increasing measure of mercy, peace, and 
ove. 


II.— WARNINGS AGAINST THE MORAL CORRUPTION INTRODUCED 
BY FALSE TEACHERS. 


Dear friends, I was doing my very best to write to you 
about our common Salvation, but I feel I must write to you at 
once to urge you to fight in defence of the Faith that has 
once for all been entrusted to the keeping of Christ’s People. 
For there have crept in among you certain godless people, 
whose sentence has been long since pronounced, and who 
make the mercy of God a ground for profligacy, and ‘disown’ 
our only ‘lord’ and master, Jesus ‘ Christ.’ 

Now I want to remind you—though you already know it 
all—that though the Lord delivered the People from Egypt, 
yet he afterwards destroyed those who refused to believe in 
him ; and that even those angels that failed to keep their own 
station and left their proper home have been kept by him for 
‘the judgement’ of the Great ‘ Day’ in everlasting ‘chains’ and 
black ‘darkness.’ They are like Sodom and Gomorrha and 
the towns near them, which, as these angels did, gave them- 
selves up to fornication, and went in search of beings of a 
different nature, and now stand out as a warning, undergoing, 
as they are, punishment by enduring fire. Yet in the very 

4 Enoch 48.11. 6 Enoch 10. 6, 9. 


482 JUDE. 


same way these men, too, cherish vain dreams, pollute our 
human nature, reject control, and speak disparagingly of the 
Great. Yet even Michael, the Archangel, in his dispute 
with the Devil, when he was arguing about the body of Moses, 
did not venture, when pronouncing sentence, to speak in 
strong condemnation of him, but merely said “ Zhe Lord 
rebuke you!” But these men speak disparagingly of things 
of which they know nothing; while they use such things as 
they understand by instinct (like the animals that have no 
reason) for their own corruption. Alas for them! They 
walked in the steps of Cain; led astray by Balaam’s love of 
gain, they plunged into sin; and they came to their ruin 
through a rebellious spirit like Korah’s. These are the people 
who are blots upon your ‘ Love-feasts,’ when they join you at 
your gatherings and provide only for themselves without scruple. 
They are clouds without water, driven before the winds ; they 
are trees that are leafless, destitute of fruit, dead through and 
through, torn up by the roots; they are wild sea waves, 
foaming with their own shame ; they are ‘ wandering stars,’ 
for which the blackest darkness is reserved for ever. 

It was for them, also, that Enoch, ‘the seventh in descent 
from Adam,’ spoke these words—“ See! the Lord has come with 
his hosts of holy ones around him to execute judgement upon all 
men, and to convict all godless people of all their godless 
acts, which in their ungodliness they have committed, and of 
all the harsh words which they have spoken against him, 
godless sinners as they are !” 

These men are always grumbling and complaining; they 
follow where their passions lead them; they have arrogant 
words upon their lips ; and they pay court to people only for 
what they can get from them. 


But as for you, dear friends, you must recollect what was 
foretold by the Apostles of our Lord, Jesus Christ—how they 
used to say to you that as time drew to an end there would 
be scoffers, who would be led by their godless passions, 

These are the people—animal and unspiritual—who 
cause divisions. But you, dear friends, must build up 
your characters on the foundation of your most holy Faith, 
you must pray under the guidance of the holy Spirit, and keep 
yourselves safe within the love of God, while waiting for the 
mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ, to bring you to enduring Life. 

There are some to whom you must show pity because 
they are in doubt. Save them by dragging them out of the fire. 
There are others to whom you must show pity, but with 
caution, hating even the clothing polluted by their animal 
nature. 


9 Dan. 12.1; Zech. 3.2. 1 Ezek. 34.8. 13 Enoch 18.16. M—15 Enoch 59. 8; 
Deut. 33.2; Zech. 14.5. % Zech. 3. a—4e 


10 


Ir 


I2 


13 
14 


15 


16 


23 


JUDE. 483 


III.—AscCRIPTION. 


To him who is able to keep you from falling, and to bring 24 


you into his glorious presence, blameless and rejoicing—to 
the one God, who is our Saviour, be ascribed, through Jesus 
Christ, our Lord, glory, majesty, power, and dominion, as it 
was before time began, is now, and shall be for all time to 
come. Amen. 


25 





THE REVELATION. 


THE REVELATION. 


WRITTEN IN ASIA MINOR, NOT LONG AFTER 
68 A.D. 


In the later days of Jewish History the place of ei ated 
was taken by that form of revelation by visions which was 
known as an ‘ Apocalypse.’ 

‘The Revelation’ is the only example of an Apocalypse in the 
New Testament. Like all books of the kind, Jewish as well as 
Christian, its purpose is to encourage its readers in the belief 
that the ultimate triumph of their Faith is assured. In every 
Apocalypse the historical crisis of the day is taken as the model 
from which a picture is drawn of a great final catastrophe. 
This Apocalypse is no exception. In the Persecutions of 
64 A.D. and onwards, and in the events of the reign of that 
Monster of Wickedness, the Emperor Nero, abundant material 
was found for a picture of the horrors wrought by the enemies 
of the Christ and of their impending final judgement. 

The events of contemporaneous history are, here, as in all 
Apocalypses, half-hidden by the mystical shape in which they 
are presented. This is accounted for partly by the fact that 
the writers saw that the solemnity of their revelations was 
enhanced by their mystery, and partly by the fact that it was 
not safe to indicate with too great clearness the hostile 
Authorities of the day. (Thus, for example, in this Book, the 
name of the Emperor Nero is veiled under the symbolical 
number 666, the numerical value of which is represented 
by the Hebrew letters which spell that title). In spite of their 
obscure presentation, many events of the author’s time can be 
detected in the mystical scenes and figures here described. 

The strange idioms in which this Book abounds show that, 
though the author wrote in Greek, he thought in Hebrew. 


THE 


Reve rho (OF (Orme 





I.—INTRODUCTION. 


Tuis is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to 
him to make known to his servants—a revelation of what must 
shortly take place. He sent and revealed it by his angel to 
John, his servant, who testified to God’s Message and to the 
testimony about Jesus Christ, omitting nothing of what he saw. 
Happy is the reader, and happy are those who listen to the 
words of this prophecy, and lay to heart what is here written ; 
for The Time is near. 


II.—MEssaGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 


From John, to the seven Churches which are in Roman Asia. 
May you receive blessing and peace from him who is and 
was and will be, and from the seven Spirits that are before 
his throne, and from Jesus Christ—the faithful Witness, the 
First of the Dead to be born again, and the Ruler of all earthly 
Kings. To him who loves us and /reed us from our 
sins by shedding his blood—aye, and he made us a Kingdom 
of Priests for God, his Father—to him, I say, be ascribed glory 
and dominion for ever. Amen. 

fe is coming among the clouds! Every eye shall see him, even 
the men who Pierced him ; and all the nations of the earth shall 
wail for fear of him. So shallit be. Amen. 


‘I am Alpha and Omega,’ says the Lord, the God who is and 
was and will be, the Almighty. 


I, John, who am your Brother, and who share with you in 
the suffering and kingship and endurance of Jesus, found my- 
self on the island called Patmos, for the sake of God’s Message 

1 Dan. 2,28. 4 Exod.3.14; Isa. 41. 4; Ps. 89. 37,273; 130. 8; Isa. 40. 2. 


6 Exod. 19. 6. 7 Dan. 7.13; Zech. 12. 10—14. 8 Exod. 3. 14; Isa. 41. 4; 
Amos 4. 13 (Septuagint). 


488 REVELATION OF JOHN, 1—2. 


and the testimony about Jesus. I found myself in a trance on 
the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a great voice, like the 
blast of atrumpet. It said—‘ Write what you see in a book 
and send it to the seven Churches at Ephesus, Smyrna, 
Pergamus, Thyateira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicaea.’ 
I turned to see what voice it was that was speaking to 
me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lamps, and in the 
middle of the lamps one /ike a son of man, in a robe reaching to 
his feet, and with a band of gold across his breast. The hatr of his 
head was as white as wool, as white as snow; his eyes were like flam- 
ing fire; and his feet were like brass, as bright as when the metal 
has been smelted in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of 
many streams, in his right hand he held seven stars, from his 
mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, while his face shone 
like the sun when at its height. On seeing him, I fellat his 
feet as if I were dead. He laid his hand on me and said— 
‘Do not be afraid. I am before all and after all, the Ever- 
living. I died, and I am alive for ever and ever. And I hold 
the keys of the Grave and of the Place of the Dead. Therefore 
write of what you have seen and of what is happening now and 
of what will take place hereafter ; write of the mystic meaning of the 
seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and write of the 
seven gold lamps. The seven stars are the Angels of the 
seven Churches, while the seven lamps are the seven Churches 
themselves. 


To the Angel of the Church at Ephesus write this :— 


“ These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in 
his right hand, and walks among the seven gold lamps:—I lnow 
your life, your toil and endurance, and I know that you cannot 
tolerate evil-doers. I know, too, how you tested those who 
declare that they are Apostles, when they are not, and how 
you discovered that they were impostors. You show that you 
possess endurance ; you have undergone much for my Cause, 
and you have never grown weary. But I have this against 
you—you have abandoned your first love. Therefore recollect 
from what you have fallen, and repent, and live the life you 
did before. If you do not, you will see me coming, and I shall 
remove your Lamp from its place—unless, indeed, you repent. 
But this is in your favour—You hate the life lived by the 
Nikolaitans, and I also hate it. Let those who have ears 
listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. 
for those who conquer—to them I will give the right fo eat the 
‘ fruit of the Tree of Life, which stands tn the Paradise of God.” 


13 Dan. 7.13; Ezek. 1.26; 8.2; 9. 2, 3 (Septuagint), 11 (Septuagint) ; Das. ro. 5 
(ihalincen)- 14 Dan. 7. 9. 4-15 Dan, 10.6. Ezek. 1. 243 43. 2 (Hebrew 
6 Fudges 5. 31. W Dan. 10. 12, 19; Jeu. 44. 6 (Hetxem)s 48. 12 (Hebrew 

3%. 


19 (sa. 48. 6; Dan. 2.49 (Chaldaean). 20 Dan. 2.29. 7 Gen.2.9; 3. 22; Ezek, 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 2. 489 
fo the Angel of the Church at Smyrna write this :— 


“These are the words of him who is before all and after ail, 
who died, but is restored to life :—I know your troubles and 
your poverty. Yet you are rich! I know, too, the slanders 
proceeding from those who declare that they are Jews, when 
they are not, but are a Congregation ruled by Satan. Do not 
be afraid of what you are going to suffer. The Devil is going to 
throw some of you into prison, so that you may be tempted, and 
may undergo suffering for ten days. Be faithful even to death, 


and I will give you as your crown the gift of Life. Let 
those who have ears listen to what the Spirit is saying to the 
Churches. Those who conquer shall suffer no hurt 


from the Second Death.” 
To the Angel of the Church at Pergamos write this :— 


“ These are the words of him who holds the sharp two-edged 
sword :—I know where you dwell. It is where the Throne of 
Satan is. And yet you hold to my Cause, and you did not dis- 
own my Faith even in the days of Antipas, who was my faith- 
ful witness, and who was put to death among you where Satan 
dwells. Yet I have a few things against you—You have among 
you men who hold to the Teaching of Balaam who taught 
Balak to put temptations in the way of the Israelites, so that they 
should eat idol-offerings and commit licentious acts. Again, you 
have also among you men who hold in the same way to the 
Teaching of the Nikolaitans. Therefore repent. If you do 
not, you will soon see me coming, and I will contend with such 


men with words that will cut like a sword. Let those 
who have ears listen to what the Spirit is saying to the 
Churches. As for those who conquer—éo them J will 


give a share of the mystic manna, and I will give them white 
stones ; and on each stone there will be inscribed a new name, 
which no one knows except the man who receives it.” 


To the Angel of the Church at Thyatira write this :— 


“These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like 
flaming five, and whose feet are like brass :—I know your life, your 
love, faith, service, and endurance ; and I know that your life 
of late has been better than it was at first. Yet I have this 
against you—You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who declares 
that she is a Prophetess, and so misleads my servants by her 
teaching, till they commit licentious acts and eat idol-offerings. I 
gave her time in which to repent, but she is determined not to 
turn from her licentiousness. Therefore I am laying her upon 


8 Isa. 44. 6 (Hebrew); 48. 12 (Hebrew). 10 Dan. 1. 12, 14. 14 Num. 31. 16; 
25.1,2, 17 Ps. 78. 24; Isa. 62.2; 65,15. 18 Dan. 10.6. 20 Num. 25. 1, 2 


10 


II 


I2 


13 


14 


15 
16 


17 


18 


a9 


20 


21 


22 


490 REVELATION OF JOHN, 2—3. 


a bed of sickness, and I am laying great trouble upon those 
who are unfaithful with her—unless, indeed, they repent and 
abandon a life like hers. I will also put her children to death ; 
and all the Churches shall learn that I am he who oks into 
the hearts and souls of men; and J will give you each what your 
lives deserve. ButI say to the rest of youat Thyatira—all, I 
mean, who do not accept such teaching, the men who did not 
learn ‘the secrets of Satan,’ as people call them—I am not 
laying on you any further burden ; only hold fast to what you 
have received, until I come to you. As for those who 
conquer and are careful to live the life that I require to the 
end—¢o them TI will give authority over the heathen, and 

shall rule them with an iron rod, grinding them down like pieces 
of earthenware—this is what I myself have received from my 
Father—and I will give them the Morning Star. t 


those who have ears listen to what the Spirit is saying to the 
Churches.” 


To the Angel of the Church at Sardis write this :— 


“ These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of 
God and the seven stars :—I know your life, and that men say of 
you that you are living, though you are dead. Be on the alert, 
and strengthen what still survives, though it was once all but 
dead; for I have not found your life perfect in the eyes of my 
God. Therefore recollect what you have received and were 
taught, and lay it to heart and repent. Unless you are on the 
alert, I shall come like a thief, and you will not know at what 
hour Iam coming to you. Yet there are some few among you 
at Sardis who did not soil their robes ; they shall walk with 
me, robed in white, for they are worthy to do so. 

Those who conquer shall be clothed, as I have said, in white 
robes, and I will not s¢ri#e their names out of the Book of Life; 
but I will own them before my Father, and before his angels. 

Let those who have ears listen to what the Spirit is 
saying to the Churches.” 


To the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia write this :— 


“These are the words of him who is holy and true, who 
holds the Key of David, who opens and no one shall close, and closes 
and no one can open:—I know your life (see, I have set a door 
open before you which no one is able to close), I know that, 
though the strength you have is little, you kept my teaching in 
mind, and did not disown my Cause. Listen, I give some of 
the Congregation of Satan, who are the men who declare that 
they are Jews when they are not, but are lying——I will 
make them come and bow down at your feet, and they shall learn 
that Z /oved you. You kept in mind my teaching as to endur- 


3 Fer. 17.10; Ps. 7.9; 62.12, W—W Ps. 2.8, 9. 5 Exod. 32.33; Ps. 69. 28. 
Jsa, 22. 22. 9% Jsa. 45. 143 49. 23; 60. 14 (Hebrew); 66. 23; 43. 4. 





REVELATION OF JOHN, 3—4. 491 


ance, and therefore I will keep you in mind in the hour of trial 
that is coming upon the whole world, the hour that will test 
all who are living upon earth. Iam coming soon. Hold to 
what you have received, so that no one may take your crown. 

As for those who conquer—I will make them pillars 
in the Temple of my God ; and they will not leave itagain ; and 
I will write on them the name of my God and the xame of the 
City of my God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out 
of Heaven from my God, and I will also write on each of 
them my zew name. Let those who have ears listen 
to what the Spirit has to say to the Churches.” 


To the Angel of the Church at Laodicaea write this :— 


“These are the words of the Stedfast One, the true and 
faithful Witness, the One through whom God began to create :—I 
know your life ; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I 
wish you were either cold or hot! As it is, because you are 
lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am ready to spit you out of 
my mouth. You say ‘Iam rich and have grown rich, and I 
want for nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched, 
miserable, poor, blind, naked! Therefore I counsel you to 
buy from me gold that has been refined by fire, that you may 
grow rich; and white robes, that you may be clothed and 
your shameful nakedness may be hidden ; and ointment for 
your eyes, that you may see. J rebuke and J discipline all whom 
Lf love. Therefore be in earnest and repent. I am 
standing at your door and am knocking! If any one hears my 
voice and opens the door, I will goin to visit him, and will 
feast with him, and he shall feast with me. As for 
those who conquer—to them I will give the right to sit beside 
me on my throne, just as, when I conquered, I took my 
seat beside my Father on his throne. Let those who 
have ears listen to what the Spirit has to say to the Churches.” ’ 


II].—THE VISION OF THE SEVEN SEALS. 


In the vision that I saw after this there was an open door 
in the heavens, and the first voice which I heard was like the 
blast of a trumpet speaking to me. It said—‘ Come up here 
and I will show you what must take place’ Immediately after 
this I found myself in a trance. There stood a throne in 
Heaven, and ox the throne some one was seated. He who was 
seated upon it was in appearance like a jasper and a sardius ; 


and vound the throne there was a rainbow of the colour of an. 


emerald. There were also round the throne twenty-four 


2 Ezek. 48. 35; Isa. 62. 2; 65.15. 14 Ps. 89. 37; Prov. 8.22. W Hos. 12. 8. 
19 Prov. 3. 12 (Septuagint). 1 Brod. 19. 16, 24; Dan. 2.29. 2Jsa.6.1; Ps. 47.8. 
8 Ezek. 1. 26—28. 


II 


I2 


13 


14 


15 
16 
17 
18 


w 
20 


2I 


22 


al 


492 REVELATION OF JOHN, 4—8. 


other thrones, and on these I saw twenty-four Senators 
sitting, dressed in white robes; and on their heads they 
had crowns of gold. Out from the throne come 

lightning, cries, and peals of thunder! There were seven 
torches burning in front of it, which are the seven spirits 
of God; also in front of the throne was what seemed 
to be a sea of glass, resembling crystal, while within the space 
before the throne and round the throne 1 saw four Creatures full of 
eyes in front and behind. The first looked like a ion, the second 
like a calf, the third had a face like a man's, and the fourth looked 


like an eagle on the wing. These four Creatures have each of 8 


them six wings, and all round, and within, they are full of eyes; 
and day and night they never cease to say— 

‘ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, our God, the Almighty, who was 
and ¢s and will be.’ 

Whenever these Creatures give praise and honour and 
thanks to him who is seated on the throne, him who lives for 
ever and ever, the twenty-four Senators will prostrate them- 
selves before him who is seated on the throne, and worship 
him who lives for ever and ever, and throw their crowns down 
before the throne, saying— 


‘Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, to receive all 
praise, honour, and power, for thou didst create all 
things, and to thy will they owe their existence and their 
creation.’ 


Then I saw on the right of him who was seated on the throne 
a book, with writing inside and out, and sealed with seven 
seals; and I sawa mighty angel who was crying aloud—‘Is 
there no one worthy to open the book and break the seals that 
are upon it?’ But no one either in Heaven or on earth or 
under the earth was able to open the book or look at it. At 
this I wept for a long time, because no one could be found 
who was worthy to open the book or look at it. But one 
of the Senators said to me—‘Do not weep. The Zion has 
conquered—the Lion of the tribe of Fudah, the Scion of 
David—and he therefore can open the book with its seven 
seals.’ 

Then, in the space between the throne and the four 
Creatures, I saw, standing in the centre of the Senators, @ 
Lamb, which looked as if it had been 4i//ed. It had seven 
horns and seven eyes. (These eyes are the seven Spirits of 
God, and they are sent izto ail the world.) The Lamb came 
forward ; and he has taken the book from the right hand of 

5 Ezek. 1.13; Exod. 19. 16 (Hebrew and Septuagint). 6 Hsek. 1. 5, 18, 22, 26; 
10.1; /sa. 6.1—2. 7 Ezek. x. 10; 10. 14. 8 Jeu. 6. 2, 3; Azek. x. 18; 10. 125 
Amos 4. 13 (Septuagint); Exod. 3. 14; Jsa. 41. 4. 9—10 Jsa. 6. 1; Ps. 47. 85 
Dan. 4. 34; 6. 26; 12. 7. 1 Jsa. 6. 1; Ps. 47.8; Ezek. 2. 9—10; Isa. 29. 1% 
5 Gen. 49.9; Isa. 1x. 10. 6 Isa. 53.7; Zeck. 4.10. 7 Jsa. 6.1; Ps. 47. 8. 


Io 


Il 


un BO 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 5—6, 493 


him who was seated on the throne. Then, when he 
had taken the book, the four Creatures and the twenty- 
four Senators prostrated themselves before the Lamb, each 
of them holding a harp and gold bowls full of zucense. 
(These are the prayers of Christ’s People.) And they sing a 
new song— 


‘Thou art worthy to take the book and break the seals 
that are upon it, for thou wast killed, and with thy blood 
thou didst buy for God men of every tribe, language, 
people, and nation, and didst make them jor our God a 
Kingdom of Priests, and they are reigning on the earth.’ 


Then in my vision I heard the voices of many angels round 
the throne, and of the Creatures, and of the Senators. In 
number they were ten thousand times ten thousand and 
thousands of thousands, and they cried aloud— 


‘Worthy is the Zamb that was killed to receive all 
power, wealth, wisdom, might, honour, praise, and 
blessing.’ 


Then I heard every created thing in the air and on the earth 
and under the earth and on the sea, and all that they contain, 
crying— 


‘To him who ts seated upon the throne and to the Lamb be 
ascribed all blessing, honour, praise, and dominion for 
ever and ever 


Then the four Creatures said ‘Amen,’ and the Senators 
prostrated themselves and worshipped. 


Next I watched while the Lamb broke one of the seven 
seals, and I heard one of the four Creatures crying with a 
voice like thunder—‘Come.’ And in my vision I saw a white 
horse. Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he 
went out conquering and to conquer. 

When the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second 
Creature crying—‘Come.’ Then there went out another horse, 
a red horse, and to its rider was given the power to deprive the 
earth of peace, so that men should kill one another; and he 
was given a great sword. 

When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third 
Creature crying—‘Come.’ And in my vision I saw a black 
horse. Its rider held scales in his hand. And I heard what 
seemed to be a voice, coming from among the four Creatures, 

Ps. 141. 2 9% Ps. 144.9. 0 Exod. 19.6. UW Dan. 7. 10. 12 Isa. 53. 7. 

13 Jsa. 6.1; Ps. 47.8. 2—5 Zech. 1.83 6. 2—3, 6» 


10 


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I2 


13 


14 


494 REVELATION OF JOHN, 6—%, 


crying—‘ Half a peck of wheat for a shilling, and three half- 
pecks of barley for a shilling! But do not injure the oil and 
the wine,’ 

When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice 
of the fourth Creature crying—‘Come. And in my vision I 
saw a cream-coloured horse. His rider’s name was Death, and 
the Lord of the Place of Death rode behind him. Power was 
given them over the fourth part of the earth, so that they 
might destroy with sword and famine and death, and by means of 
wild beasts. 

When the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar 
the souls of those who had been killed for the sake of God’s 
Message and the testimony which they had borne. They 
cried aloud—‘ How Jong will it be, O Sovereign Lord, holy and 
true, before thou wilt ass sentence and avenge our blood upon all 
who are living on earth?’ Then each of them was given a white 
garment, and they were told to rest a little while longer, till 
the number of their fellow-servants and of their Brothers who 
were about to be put to death, just as they had been, should 
be complete. 

I watched while the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and then 
there was a great earthquake. 7he sun became as black as sack- 
cloth, azd the moon, which was at its full, like d/ood. The stars 
of the heavens fell to the earth, just as when a fig-tree, shaken by 
a strong wind, drops its unripe fruit. Zhe heavens disappeared 
like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island 
was removed from its place. Then ail the kings of the earth, the 
princes, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every one, 
whether slave or free man, hid themselves in the caves and under 
the rocks of the mountains ; and they said to the mountains and 
the rocks—‘ Fall upon us, and hide us from the eyes of him who 
is seated on the throne, and from the judgement of the Lamb, for 
their great Day for Fudgement is come, and who can stand to meet 
it?’ 

What I next saw was four angels standing on the four 
corners of the earth and restraining the four winds of the earth, 
to prevent any wind from blowing over the earth, or 
over the sea, or against any tree. Then, in the east, I saw 
another angel ascending. He held the seal of the Living God, 
and he cried aloud to the four angels, to whom there had 
been given power to injure the earth and the sea—‘ Do not 
injure the earth, or the sea, or the trees, until we have 
stamped with this sea/ the servants of our God upon their 
foreheads, I heard, too, the number of those who were 


8 Hos. 13. 143 Ezek. 33. 27; 14. 283 5. 12; 29. 5; 34. 28. 10 Zech. x. 125 
Deut. 32. 43; 2 Kings 9.7; Hos. 4.x. 12 Yoel 2. 31. W—I4 Isa. 34. 45 13. 10. 
1S Ps, 48. 4 (Septuagint); 2.2; /sa. 24. 21; 34.12; Fer. 4. 29; Jsa. 2. 10, 
16 Hos. 10.8; Jsa. 6. 1; Ps. 47.8. 17 Yoel 2, 11: Zedh. x. 14—15, 18; Mal. 2. m 
1 Ezek. 7. 2; 37.9; Zech.6.5. 3% Ezek. 9. ¢ 


10 


II 





> 
‘ 


WGI: ee Sage eel 


Fae 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 7%. 495 


stamped with the seal. It was one hundred and forty-four 
thousand ; and they were from every tribe of the Israelites. 


From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were stamped, 
from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Napthali twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Zebulon twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were stamped. 


Next in my vision I saw a vast throng, too great for any 
one to count. It was composed of men of every nation and 
of all tribes, peoples, and languages. They stood in front of 
the throne and in front of the Lamb, robed in white, and 
holding palm branches in their hands. And they are crying 
aloud— 


“To our God seated on his throne and to the Lamb is our 
Salvation due.’ 


Round the throne, the Senators, and the four Creatures, were 
standing all the angels, and they prostrated themselves on 
their faces in front of the throne and worshipped God, 
saying— 


‘Amen. Blessing, praise, wisdom, thanksgiving, 
honour, power, and might be ascribed to our God for 
ever and ever. Amen.’ 


Then one of the Senators, addressing me, said ‘Who are 
these robed in white ? and from where did they come ?’ 

‘My Lord,’ I replied, ‘ you know.’ 

‘These,’ he said, ‘are they who have come through the 
Great Persecution ; they washed their robes white in the blood of 
the Lamb. And therefore it is that they are before the throne 
of God, and are serving him day and night in his Temple; 


and he who is seated on the throne will shelter and protect them. ’ 


Never again will they be hungry, never again thirsty, nor will the 
sun smite upon them, nor any scorching heat ; for the Lamb that 
stands in the front of the throne will be their shepherd, and 
will lead them to life-giving springs of water s and God will wipe 
away all tears from their eyes.’ 


10 Isa. 6. 1; Ps. 47.8. 14 Dan. 12. 1; Gen. 49. 11. 15 Zsa. 6.1; Ps, 47. & 
16—17 Isa. 49, 10. 17 Ezek. 34. 23; Her. 2.133 Isa. 25.8; Fer. 31. 16. 


Io 


It 


I2 


16 
17 


396 REVELATION OF JOHN, 8—9. 


As soon as the Lamb had broken the seventh seal, for about 
half-an-hour there was silence in Heaven. 


IV.—THE VISION OF THE SEVEN TRUMPET-BLASTs. 


Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and 
seven trumpets were given to them. 

Next, another angel came and stood at the altar with a gold 
censer in his hand; and a great quantity of incense was given 
to him, to mingle with the prayers of all Christ's People upon 
the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense 
ascended, with ¢he prayers of Christ’s People, from the hand of 
the angel before God. Then the angel took the censer and 
filled it with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the 
earth ; and there followed fea/s of thunder, cries, flashes of light- 
ning, and an earthquake. 

Then the seven angels holding the seven trumpets prepared 
to blow their blasts. 


The first blew ; and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, 
and it fell upon the earth. A third part of the earth was burnt 
up, and a third of the trees, and every blade of grass. 

Then the second angel blew; and what appeared to be a 
mountain, all on fire, was hurled into the sea. A third of the 
sea became blood, and a third part of all created things that are 
in the sea—that is of all living things—died, and a third of the 
ships was destroyed. 

Then the third angel blew ; and ¢here fell from the heavens a 
great star, burning like a torch. It fell upon a third of the 
rivers and upon the springs. (The star is called ‘Worm- 
wood.’) A third of the water became bitter as wormwood, 
and so bitter was the water that many died from drinking it. 

Then the fourth angel blew; and a third of the sun anda 
third of the moon and a third of the stars were blasted, so 
that a third of them was eclipsed, and for a third part of the 
day there was no light, and at night it was the same. 


In my vision I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven and 
crying loudly— There will be woe, woe, woe for all who live 
on the earth, at the blasts of the trumpets of the three other 
angels who are about to blow.’ 


Then the fifth angel blew ; and I saw a Star that had fallen 
upon the earth from the heavens, and to him was given the 
key of the bottomless pit. He opened the bottomless pit, and 
from the pit rose a smoke like the smoke of a great furnace. The 
sun and the air grew dark because of the smoke from the pit. 

3 Amosg.1. 3—4 Ps. 23 2. 5 Lev. 16. 12; Exod. 19. 16 (Hebrew and Septua- 


gint). 7 Exod. 9. 24; Eze . 38. 22; Foel. 2. 30. 8 Fer, 51. 25; Bxod. J 1p 
Isa. 14. 12, 2 Gen. 19. 28 (Hebrew) ; Exod. 19. 18; Foel 2. 10 


13 4 





REVELATION OF JOHN, 9. 497 


Out of the smoke /ocusts descended upon the earth, and they 
received the same power as that possessed by scorpions. They 
were told not to injure he grass, or any plant, or any tree, 
but only the people without God’s seal on their foreheads. Yet 
they were not allowed to kill them, but it was ordered that those 
people should be tortured for five months. The torture to be 
inflicted upon them was like that inflicted by a scorpion when 
it stings any one. In those days men will seek Death and will 
not find it; they will long to die, but Death flees from them. 
In shape the locusts were “ike horses equipped for battle. On 
their heads there were what appeared to be crowns that 
shone like gold, their faces resembled human faces, and 
they had hair like a woman’s, their teeth were like lion's teeth, 
and they had what appeared to be iron breastplates, while the 
noise of their wings was “ike the noise of chariots drawn by 
many horses, galloping into battle. They have tails like a 
scorpion’s, and stings, and in their tails lies the power that they 
have for five months of injuring people. They have as their 
king the Angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew 
is ‘Abaddon,’ while in Greek his name is ‘Apollyon’ (the 
Destroyer). 

The first Woe has passed ; and still there are two Woes to 
follow ! 


Then the sixth angel blew; and I heard a voice proceeding 
from the corners of the gold altar that stood before God. It 
spoke to the sixth angel—the angel with the trumpet—and 
said ‘Set free the four angels that are in chains at the great 
river Euphrates. ‘Then the four angels that were held in 
readiness for that hour and day and month and year were set 
free, to destroy a third of mankind. In number the mounted 
men were ten thousand times ten thousand, twice told—I 
heard their number. And this is what the horses and their 
riders appeared to be like in my vision. They had breast- 
plates of fire, blood-red and sulphurous, and the heads of the 
horses were like lions’ heads, while out of their mouths there 
issue fire, smoke, and sulphur. Through these three Curses a 
third of mankind died—because of the fire, the smoke, and 
the sulphur that issued from their mouths; for the power of 
the horses lies in their mouths and in their tails. Their tails 
are like snakes, with heads, and it is with them that they do 
injury. But all who remained of mankind, who had not died 
through these Curses, did not repent and turn away from 
what their own hands had made; and so they would not abandon 
the worship of evi spirits, and of idols made of gold or silver or 
brass or stone or wood, which can neither see, hear, or walks and 


3—4 Exod. 10. 12,15. 4 Ezek. 9. 4. © ¥ob3. 21. 7 Foel2.4, 5. 8 Foelx. 6. 
2 Hoel 2.5. 14 Gen. 15. 18; Deut. 1.7; F¥osh.1. 4. 0 Isa. 17.8; Dan. 5. 3, 23 


@@ptuagint); Daz. 5. 4, 23 (Chaldaean); Deut. 32.17; Ps. 115.7. 12 Kings g. 22. 


I2 


13 
14 


15 
16 


17 


18 


uy 


20 


21 


498 REVELATION OF JOHN, 9—11. 


they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their 
licentiousness, or their thefts. 

Then I saw another mighty angel, descending from 
Heaven. His robe was a cloud; over his head was the rain- 
bow ; his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; 
in his hand he held a little book open. He set his right foot 
on the sea, and his left on the land; and he cried with 
a loud voice like the roaring of a lion. At his cry the seven 
peals of thunder spoke. Each had its own voice. 

And when they spoke I was about to write; but I heard a 
voice from Heaven say—‘ Keep secret what the seven of 
thunder said, and do not write it down,’ Then the 
angel, whom I had seen standing on the sea and on the land, 
raised his right hand to the heavens, and swore by him who lives 
for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that it contains, 
and the earth and all that it contains, and the sea and all that it 
contains, that time should cease to be. Moreover at the time 
when the seventh angel shall speak, when he is ready to blow 
his blast, then the secret purposes of God are at once fulfilled, 
of which God told the good news to zs servants, the Prophets. 

Then came the voice which I had heard from 
Heaven. It spoke to me again, and said—‘Go and take the 
book that is open in the hand of the angel that stands on the 
sea and on the land. SoI went to the angel and asked him 
to give me the iittle book, ‘Take it, he said, ‘and eatit. It will 
be bitter to your stomach, but in your mouth it will be as sweet 
as honey.’ I took the /itt/e book out of the angel’s hand and ate 
it, and while in my mouth it was like the sweetest honey; but 
when I had eaten it, it was bitter to my stomach. And I was 
told—‘ You must prophesy again about men of many peoples, 
nations, and languages, and about many ings.’ 

Then I was given a measure like a vod, and a voice said to 
me—‘Go and measure the Temple of God, with the altar and 
the worshippers there. But omit the court outside the 
Temple, and do not measure that, for it has been given up fo 
the heathen ; and the holy City will be znder thetr heel for forty- 
two months. Then I will give permission to my Two Wit- 
nesses, and for those twelve hundred and sixty days they will 
continue teaching, dressed in sackcloth.’ These men are 
represented by che two olive trees and the two /amps that stand 
before the Lord of the earth. \Nhen any one wishes to injure 
them, five comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies ; 
and whoever wishes to injure them will, in this way, inevitably 
die. These men have the power to close the heavens, that xo 
rain may fall during the time that they are teaching ; and they 

4 Dan. 8.26; 12.4. 5-8 Dan.12.7; Gen. 14. 19, 223 x air 6; Exod. 20. 1%} 

6. 7 An rY : . 9. 6, : joe — é 
os ial pe Lt enter can ‘ Beck. Pieg a 12. siSecegiall ; $ 
dsa. 63. 18; Ps. 79.1%; Dan. 8.10. 4Zech. 4. 2—3, 11, 14. 5 2 Kemgs i. 105 
2 Sam, 22.9; Fer. 5 143 PS. 97-3. 6x Kings 17.1; Exod.7.17, 19; 1 Sam. 4.8 


ee | 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 11. 499 


have power ¢o turn the streams into blood ; and to smite the land 
with any Curse, whenever they wish. As soon as they have com- 
pleted their testimony, the wi/d Beast that ascends from the 
bottomless pit will make war upon them and conquer and kill them. 
Their dead bodies will lie in the streets of the great City, which 
is mystically spoken of as ‘ Sodom’ and ‘ Egypt, where their 
Master was crucified. Men of many peoples, tribes, languages, 
and nations look at their dead bodies for three days and a half, 
and do not allow them to be laid in a grave. Those who live 
in that land rejoice over them and are merry, and they will 
send presents to one another, because these two Prophets 
brought torments upon those who lived in that land. After 
three days and a half the life-giving breath of God entered these 
men, and they stood up upon their feet, to the great terror of those 
who were watching them. The two men heard a loud voice 
from Heaven which said—‘Come up here, and they went 
up ¢o Heaven in the cloud, while their enemies watched them. 
At that very time a great earthquake occurred. A tenth 

part of the city /e//, and seven thousand people were killed by 
the earthquake. Those who escaped were much terrified, 
and praised the God of Heaven. 

The second Woe has passed ; and there is a third Woe soon 
to follow ! 

Then the seventh angel blew; and loud voices were heard 
in Heaven saying— 


‘ The Kingdom of the World has become the Kingdom 9 
our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and 
ever. 


At this the twenty-four Senators, who were seated on their 
thrones before God, prostrated themselves on their faces and 
worshipped Him, saying— 

“We thank thee, O Lord our God, the Almighty, who art 
and wast, that thou didst exercise thy great power and didst 
reign. The heathen were enraged, and thy Fudgement fell 
upon them ; the time came for the dead to be judged, and 
for thee to give the reward to chy servants the Prophets, and 
to the People of Christ, and to those that reverence thee—the 
high and the low alike—and to destroy those who are 
destroying the earth.’ 


Then the Temple of God in Heaven was opened, and the Ark 
containing his Covenant was seen in his Temple; and there 
followed flashes of lightning, cries, peals of thunder, an earth- 
quake, and a great storm of hail. 


7 Dan. 7.3,7—8 (Septuagint), 21. 8 Zsa. x. 10. 10—11 Ps. 105. 38. 1 Ezek. 37.5, 10. 
22 2 Kings 2. 11. £zck. 38. 19—20; Dan. 2. 19 (Chaldaean). 1 Odad. 21; 
Ps. 22.28; Exod. 15.18; Ps. 10.16; Dan. 2.44; 7.14; Ps. 2.2. @ Amos 4. 13 
(Septuagint); Zzod. 3. 14; Isa. 41. 4. M—I8 Ps.go9.1. 18 Ps. 2. 1 (Hebrew), 53 
46. 6 (Hebrew) 5 115. 13; Amos 3.7; Dan. 9. 6,10; Zech. 1.6. 191 Kings8. 1,63 
2 Chron. 5.7; Exod. 19. 16 (Hebrew and Septuagint); Exod. g. 24. 


Io 


Il° 


I2 


13 


14 
15 


16 


17 


18 


9 


500 REVELATION OF JOHN, 12. 


V.—A VISION OF SEVEN SYMBOLICAL FIGURES, 


‘Then a great portent was seen in the heavens—a woman 
whose robe was the sun, and who had the moon under her 
feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with 
child ; and she is crying out in the pain and agony of childbirth. 
Another portent also was seen in the heavens. There was a 
great fiery Dragon, with seven heads and ¢em horns, and on his 
heads were seven royal crowns. His tail draws after it a third 
of the stars in the heavens, and tt hurled them down on the earth. 
The Dragon is standing in front of the woman who is about to 
give birth to the child, so that he may devour it as soon as it is 
born. The woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to 
rule all the heathen with an iron rod. Her child was at once 
caught up to God upon his throne; while the woman fled into 
the desert, where there is a place prepared for her by God, to 
be tended there for twelve hundred and sixty days. 

Then fighting took place in the heavens. Michael and his 
angels fought with the Dragon. But though the Dragon, with 
his angels, fought, he could not prevail; and there was no 
place left for them any longer in the heavens. Thenthe great 
Dragon, the primeval Serfent, known as the ‘Devil’ and 
‘ Satan,’ who deceives all the world, was hurled down to the 
earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. And I 
heard a loud voice in Heaven which said— 


‘Now has begun the day of the Salvation, Power, and 
Dominion of our God, and the Rule of his Christ ; for the 
Accuscr of our Brothers has been hurled down, he who has 
been accusing them before our God day and night. Their 
victory was due to the sacrifice of the Lamb, and to the 
Message to which they bore their testimony. Their love of 
life did not make them shrink from death. Therefore, de 
glad, O Heaven, and all who live in Heaven! Alas for the 
earth and for the sea, for the Devil has gone down to you 
in great anger, knowing that he has but little time.’ 


When the Dragon saw that he was hurled down to the earth, 
he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male 
child. But the woman was given the two wings of a great 
eagle, so that she might fly to her place in the desert, where 
she is being tended for one year, and for two years, and for half a 
year, in safety from the Serpent. Then the Serpent poured 
water from its mouth after the woman, like a river, so that it 
might sweep her away. But Earth came to her help, and 
opened her mouth and drank up the river which the Dragon had 
poured out of its mouth. On this the Dragon was enraged at 

2 a a Se , . 8. 5 . 66. 7; a 

Tsa. 66. 6—7. Dan. 7. 7 Dan. 8. 10. at 73, os ae 


7 Dan. xo. 13—20. % Gen. 3. 1; Zech. 3. 1—2 (H 
1B faa, 44: 23; 49:13. 1 Dan. 7. 25; 12 7 


oe 


10 


It 


12 





REVELATION OF JOHN, 12—13. 504 


the woman, and went to fight with the rest of her offspring— 
those who lay to heart the commands of God and bear their 
testimony to Jesus ; and he took his stand on the sea-shore. 
Then I saw vising out of the sea a wild Beast with ten horns 
and seven heads. On its horns were ten royal crowns, and 
onits heads blasphemous names. The Beast that I saw was dike 
a leopard ; but its feet were Uke a bear's, and its mouth “ke the 
mouth of a on. The Dragon gave it his power and his throne, 
and a wide-spread dominion. One of its heads seemed to me 
to have been mortally wounded, but its deadly wound had been 
healed. The whole earth followed the Beast, wondering; and 
men worshipped the Dragon, because he had given his dominion 
to the Beast ; while, as they worshipped the Beast, they said— 
‘Who can compare with the Beast? and who can fight with 
it?” The Beast was given a mouth that spoke proudly and 
blasphemously, and it was empowered Zo work its will for forty- 
two months. It only opened its mouth to blaspheme God, to 
blaspheme God himself and his Tabernacle—that is all who 
dwell in his Tabernacle in Heaven. It had been permitted 
to fight with Christ's People and to conquer them, and it had 
received power over men of every tribe, people, language and 
nation. All who are living on earth will worship it—all 
those whose names have not been wvztten from the foundation 
of the world 27 the Lamb's Book of Life, the Lamé that has been 


killed. Let those who have ears listen. Whoever is 
destined for captivity goes into captivity. Whoever shall kill with 
the sword shall with the sword inevitably be killed. Now 


is the time for Christ’s People to display patience and faith. 
Then I saw, rising out of the earth, another wild Beast. It 
had two horns like those of a lamb, and its voice was like a 
dragon’s. It exercises all the authority of the first Beast 
under its very eyes ; and it makes the earth and all who are 
living on it worship that first Beast, whose mortal wound was 
healed. It performs great marvels, even causing fire to fallfrom 
the heavens to the earth, before men’s eyes ; and in consequence 
of the marvels which it was allowed to perform under the eyes 
of the Beast, it is able to deceive all who are living on earth. 
It orders those who live on earth to make a statue in honour of 
the Beast, who, despite the wound from the sword, yet lived. It 
was permitted to breathe life into the image of the Beast, so as 
to enable the image of the Beast to speak; and it was also 
permitted to cause all who refused to worship the image of the 
Beast to be put to death. High and low, rich and poor, free 
men and slaves—it causes a brand to be put on the right hand 
or upon the forehead of every one of them, with the result 
that no one is able to buy or sell except those that bear this 
brand—either the name of the Beast or the number indicated 


Dan. 7.3,7- % Dan. 7. 4—6, 8. 5 Dan. 8. 12, 24. 7 Dan. 7. 8 (Septuagint), 21. 
8 Dan. 12.1; Ps. 69. 28; Isa. 53. 7. 10 Her. 15.2. 15 Dan. 3. s—6. 


9, I0 


If 


I2 


13 
14 


15 


16 


17 


502 REVELATION OF JOHN, 13—14 


by the letters of his name. Here is an opportunity to 
show discernment. Let the intelligent reader work out the 
number of the Beast, for the number forms a man’s name, Its 
number is six hundred and sixty-six. 


Then in my vision I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion. 
With him were one hundred and forty-four thousand men 
with his name and the name of his Father written on their 


foreheads, And I heard a sound from Heaven, /ike the sound of 


many waters, and like the sound of a loud peal of thunder; the 
sound that I heard was like the music of harpers playing on 
their harps. TZhey are singing what seems to be a new song, 
before the throne, and before the four Creatures and the 
Senators. No one was able to learn that song except the 
hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed 
from earth. These are the men who never defiled themselves 
in their intercourse with women ; they are as pure as virgins, 
These are the men who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. 
They were redeemed as the first-fruits of mankind for God 
and for the Lamb. No die was ever heard upon their lips. They 
are beyond reach of blame. 


Then I saw another angel, flying in mid-heaven. He had. 
the Good News of eternal blessings to announce to those that 
dwell on earth—to men of every nation, tribe, language and 
people ; and he cried aloud—‘ Reverence God, and give him 
praise (for the hour of his Judgement has come) and worship 
him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all springs 
of water.’ 

Then a second angel followed, crying—‘ She has fallen! She 
has fallen—Great Babylon, who has made all the heathen drink 
the maddening wine of her licentiousness !’ 

Then a third angel followed them, crying aloud—‘ Whoever 
worships the Beast and its image and receives its brand on his 
forehead or upon his hand, that man shall drink the maddening 
wine of God that has been poured unmixed into his cup of Fudge- 
ment ; and he shall be tortured with fire and sulphur before the 
eyes of the holy angels and before the eyes of the Lamb. The 
smoke of their torture-fires rises for ever and ever, and they have 
no rest either day or night—those who worship the Beast and its 
image, and all who are branded with its name.’ Now is 
the time for Christ’s People to display endurance—those who 
lay to heart the commands of God and the Faith of Jesus. 

Then I heard a voice from Heaven saying ‘ Write this— 
. “From this hour happy are the dead who die in union with the 
Lord.” “Yes,” answers the Spirit, “for then they will rest 
from their toil. Their good deeds go with them.”’ 


1 Ezek. 9. 4. 2 Ezek. 1. 24; 43. 2 (Hebrew); Dam. 10. 6. 3 Ps. 144. 9. 


Ic 


II 


12 


13 


14 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 14—45. 503 


Then 72 my vision I saw a white cloud, and on the cloud there 
was sitting one “ike a son of man. On his head he had a gold 
crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 

Then another angel came out from the Temple, crying aloud 
to him who was sitting on the cloud—‘ Strzke with your sickle 
and reap, for reaping time is here; the Harvest of Earth is 
ready.’ He who was sitting on the cloud brought his sickle 
down upon the earth, and the Harvest of Earth was reaped. 

Then another angel came out of the Temple in Heaven ; he, 
too, had a sharp sickle. 

Then another angel came out of the altar; he had power 
over fire, and he called aloud to the angel that had the sharp 
sickle—‘ Strike with your sharp sick/e, and gather the bunches 
from the Vine of Earth, for its grapes are ripe. The angel 
brought his sickle down on the earth and gathered the fruit of 
the Vine of Earth, and threw it into the wine-press of God’s 
wrath—that great wine-press. The grapes were trodden in the 
press outside the city ; and blood came out of the press, rising 
as high as the bridles of the horses for a distance of two 
hundred miles. 


VI.—THE VISION OF THE SEVEN CURSES. 


Then I saw another portent in the heavens—a great and 
marvellous one—seven angels with the seven last Curses; for 
with the infliction of them the wrath of God is spent. 

Next I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with 
fire ; and, standing by this sea of glass, with the harps of God 
in their hands, I saw those who had come victorious out of the 
conflict with the Beast and its image and the number that 
formed its name. TZhey are singing the song of Moses, the Ser- 
vant of God, and the song of the Lamb-— 

‘Great and marvellous are thy deeds, O Lord, our God, the 
Almighty. Right and true are thy ways, Eternal King. Who 
will not reverence and praise thy name, O Lord ? Thou alone 
art holy! All nations will come and worship before thee, for 
thy judgements have become manifest.’ 

What I next saw was that the inmost shrine of the Tabernacle 
of Revelation in Heaven was opened, and out of it came the 
seven angels with the sevex Curses. ‘They were adorned with 
precious stones, pure and bright, and had bands of gold round 
their breasts. One of the four Creatures gave the seven angels 
seven bowls made of gold, full of the wrath of God who lives for 
everandever. Zhe Temple was filled with the smoke from the Glory 

14 Dan. 7. 13; 10. 16. 15—20 Yoel 3. 13. 1 Lev. 26. 21. 3 Exod. 15. 1; 
Fosh. 14.7; Ps. 111.2; Exod. 34.10; Ps. 139.14; Amos 4. 13 (Septuagint) ; 
Deut. 32.4; Fer.10.10 (Hebrew). 4 ¥er. 10. 7 (Hebrew); Ps. 86.9; Mal.1. 11; 


Deut. 32. 4; Ps. 145.17. 5 Exod. 40.34. § Lev. 26.21; Ezek, 28.13. 8 Isa. 6.4; 
‘Exod. 40. 34—35 3 Lev. 26. 21. 


14 


15 


16 


17 
18 


19 


20 


15 


504 REVELATION OF JOHN, 15—16. 


and Majesty of God; and no one could enter the Temple until 
the seven Curses inflicted by the seven angels were at an end. 

Then I heard a loud voice, which came from the Temple, 
speaking to the seven angels—‘Go and empty the seven bowls 
of the wrath of God upon the earth.’ 

The first angel went and emptied his bowl upon the earth ; 
and it turned to loathsome and fainful sores upon all those 
who bore the brand of the Beast and who worshipped its image. 

Then the second angel emptied his bowl upon the sea; and 
it turned to blood like the ood of a corpse, and every living 
thing died—everything in the sea. 

Then the third angel emptied his bowl upon the rivers and 
springs of water ; and it turned to blood. Next I heard 
the Angel of the Waters saying—‘ Zhou art just, thou who art 
and who wast, the Ho/y One, in inflicting this judgement; for 
men shed the é/ood of Christ's People and of the Prophets, and 
thou hast given ‘them blood to drink. They have had their 
deserts.’ And I heard theresponse from the altar—‘ Yes, 
O Lord, our God, the Almighty, true and just are thy judgements.’ 

Then the fourth angel emptied his bowl upon the sun; and 
it was permitted to scorch men with fire; and men were 
scorched by the intense heat. They maligned the name of 
God who controlled these Curses, but they did not repent and 
give him praise. 

Then the fifth angel emptied his bowl upon the throne of the 
Beast ; and darkness fell upon its Kingdom. Men gnawed their 
tongues for pain, and maligned the God of Heaven, because of 
their pains and because of their sores, but they did not repent 
of what they had done. 

Then the sixth angel emptied his bowl upon the great river 
Euphrates ; and the water in the river was dried up, so that the 
road for the Kings of the East might be made ready. 

Next I saw three wicked spirits, like frogs, come from the 
mouth of the Dragon and from the mouth of the Beast and 
from the mouth of the pretended Prophet. They are evil 
spirits who perform marvels, and who go to kings all over the 
world, to collect them for the battle on the Great Day of 
Almighty God. (‘I am coming like a thief!’ says a 
voice. ‘Happy will those be who are on the watch and keep 
their clothing under their eye, so that they will not have 
to walk about unclothed and let men see their nakedness.’) 

Then the spirits collected the kings at the place 
called in Hebrew Har-Magedon. 


1 Isa. 66.6; Ps. 69.24; Yer. 10.25; Zeph. 3.8. 2 Exod. 9.9—10; Deut. 28. 35. 
3 Exod. 7. 20 (Hebrew), 21. 4 Ps. 78. 44; Exod. 7. 20 (Hebrew). 5 Ps. 119. 137; 
Exod. 3.14; Isa. 41., ; Deut. 32.4; Ps.145.17. 6 Ps. 79. 3; Lea. 49. 26. 
7 Amos 4. 13 (Septnagint); Ps. 19. 9; 119, 137. 10 Exod. 10. 22. M Dan. 2. 19 
(Chaldaean). 12 Jsa. 44. 27 5 Fer. 50. 38 (Hebrew); Gen. 15. 18; Deut. x. 73 
Josh. 1.4; Isa. 41. 2,25. 18 Exod. 8.3. 4 Amos 4. 13 (Septuagint). 16 Zeck, 12. rx 
(Hebrew). 


Ue 


oo 


10 


It 


12 


13 
14 


15 


16 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 16—17. 505 


Next the seventh Angel emptied his bowl upon the air. 
(A loud voice came from the throne in the Temple; it 
said ‘ All is over.’) There followed flashes of lightning, 
cries, and peals of thunder ; and there was a great earthquake. 
Such an earthquake had not occurred from the time when man 
began to be upon earth—none so great. The great City was 
torn in three, and the cities of the nations fell; nor did God 
forget to give to Great Babylon his fiercely maddening wine-cup. 
Every island vanished, and the mountains disappeared. 
Great hailstones, as much as a pound in weight, are falling upon 
men from the heavens. And men maligned God because of 
the Curse of the hail, for it was a very terrible Curse. 


VII.—TuHE Doom oF THE CHRIST'S ENEMIES. 


Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and 
spoke tome. ‘Come here,’ he said, ‘and I will show you the 
sentence passed upon that Great Prostitute who is seated at the 
meeting of many waters, and with whom all the kings of the earth 
had licentious intercourse; while all who are living on earth 
were drunk with the wine of her licentiousness. Then he bore 
me away in a trance to a lonely place, and I saw a woman 
seated upon a scarlet Beast, covered with blasphemous names ; 
it had seven heads and sex horns. The woman was dressed in 
purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold ornaments, 
precious stones, and pearls. In her hand she held a gold cuf, 
full of idolatrous abominations and the filthy fruits of her 
licentiousness ; while on her forehead there was written this 
mystic name—'GREAT BABYLON, MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES 
AND OF ALL IDOLATROUS ABOMINATIONS UPON EARTH. And I 
saw the woman drunk with the blood of Christ’s People and 
with the blood of the martyrs for Jesus. When I saw 
her, I was amazed beyond measure; and the angel said to 
me—‘ Why were you amazed? I will tell you the mystic 
meaning of the vision of this woman, and of the Beast with the 
seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The Beast 
that you saw was, but is not; it is about fo rise out of the 
bottomless pit and is on its way to destruction. Those who are 
living on earth will be amazed—those whose names have not 
been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the 
world—when they see that the Beast was, but is not, and yet 
will come.’ Here is an opportunity for the intelligent 
reader to show discernment. The seven heads are the seven 
mountains upon which the woman is seated. They are also 
seven kings, of whom five fell and one remains, while one is not 

WW fsa. 66. 6. 18 Exod. 19. 16 (Hebrew and Septuagint); Dan. 12. 1. 
9 Dan. 4. 30; Isa. 51. 17; Fer. 25. 15. 2 Exod. 9. 24. 1-2 Fer. 5x. 13 


Hebrew), 7. 2 /sa. 23, 17 (Hebrew). 3 Dan.7.7. 4 Fer. 51.7. 5 Dan. 4. 30. 
Dan. 7.3; 12.13; Ps. 69. 28. 


17 
18 


Le 


20 
21 


Io 


17 


506 REVELATION OF JOHN, 17—48. 


yet come. When he comes, he must stay for a little while. So 
must the Beast that was, but is not. He counts as an eighth 
king, although he is one of the seven, and is on his way to 
destruction. Zhe ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have 
not yet received their kingdoms, but for an hour they receive 
the authority of kings, in conjunction with the Beast. These 
kings are of one mind in surrendering their power and 
authority to the Beast. They will fight with the Lamb, but the 
Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of 
kings, and those who are on his side, who have received the 
Call and are chosen and faithful, will share his victory. 

Then the angel said to me—‘ Zhe waters that you saw, where 
the Prostitute is seated, are throngs of people and men of all 
nations and languages. The ten horns that you saw, and the 
Beast—they will all hate the Prostitute, and cause her to 
become deserted and strip her bare; they will eat her very 
flesh and destroy her with fire. For God put it into their 
minds to carry out his purpose, in carrying out their common 
purpose and surrendering their kingdoms to the Beast, until 
God’s decrees should be executed. As for the woman whom 
you saw, she is the great city that is Empress over all the dings 
of the earth.’ 

After this I saw another angel, descending from Heaven. 
He was entrusted with great authority, and the earth was 
illuminated by his splendour. With a mighty voice he cried 
out—‘ She has fallen! She has fallen—Great Babylon! She has 
become an abode of foul spirits, a stronghold of every wicked 
spirit, a stronghold of every foul and hateful bird. For after 
drinking the maddening wine of her licentiousness, all the nations 
have fallen ; while all the kings of the earth have had licentious 
intercourse with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown 
rich as the result of her excess of luxury.’ Then I heard 
another voice from Heaven—‘ Come out of her, my People, so 
that you may not participate in her sins and suffer from the 
Curses inflicted on her. For fer sins are heaped up to the 
heavens, and God has not forgotten her misdeeds. Pay her 
back with the treatment with which she has treated you; repay 
twice over what her actions deserve; in the cup which she 
mixed for you, mix for her as much again; inflict on her tor- 
ture and misery to equal her self-glorification and her luxury. 
In her heart she says ‘I sit here a queen ; no widow amI; I shall 
never know misery. Therefore iz one day shall these Curses 
befall her—death, misery, and famine, and she shall be utterly 
destroyed by fire. For mighty is the Lord God who condemned 
her. Ad the kings of the earth who had licentious intercourse with 

12 Dan. 7.24. 14 Deut. 10. 17, Dan. 2. 47. © Fer. 51. 13 (Hebrew). 18 Ps. 2. 23 
89.27. 2/sa. 21.9; Dan. 4. 30; Fer.g. 11; Ilsa. 13. 20; 34. 14. 3 Fer. $1. 75 
25. 16, 27; Jsa. 23. 17. ‘*— Yer. 51. 6, 9, 45. © Ps. 137. 8; Fer. 50. 3 


7—8 Isa. 47.7—g. 8 Fer.50. 34. ¥ Ezek. 26.16—17; 27. 30,33; Ps. 48 4 (Septua- 
gint); Zzek. 27. 35; /sa. 23. 17- 


12 


a 


ee ee eee 


ee sl 


eS OO eee 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 18—19, 507 


her and shared her luxury will weep and lament over her, when 
' they see the smoke from the burning city, while they stand at 
a distance, horrified at her torture, and cry—‘ Alas! Alas! Great 
City ! O mighty City of Babylon! Ina single hour your judge- 
ment fell. And all the merchants of the earth weep and wail 
over her, because no one buys their goods any longer—their 
gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple robes, 
silk, scarlet cloth, their many scented woods, their many ivory 
caskets, their many chests of choicest wood, or brass, or iron, 
or marble, their cinnamon, spice, incense, perfumes, frankin- 
cense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, or their horses, 
chariots, and slaves, or the bodies and souls of men. The fruits 
that your soul craved are no longer within your reach, and all 
dainties and luxuries are lost to you, never to be found again.’ 
The merchants who sold these things, and grew rich by her, 
will stand at a distance weeping and wailing, horrified at her 
torture—‘ Alas ! Alas !’ they cry, ‘ Great City ! O City dressed 
in fine linen and purple and scarlet cloth! O City adorned 
with gold ornaments, and precious stones, and pearls! Ina 
single hour your vast wealth vanished.’ Every ship's captain 
and all who sail to any port, sazlors, and all who get their 
living from ‘the sea, stood at a distance, and seeing the smoke 
from the burning city, cried—‘ What city can compare with the 
Great City?’ They threw dust on their heads, and wept and 
wailed, ‘Alas! Alas! Great City !’ they cried. ‘A// who have 
ships on the sea grew rich through her magnificence. Ina single 
hour 7¢ has vanished, Rejoice over her, O Heaven, and 
People of Christ, and Apostles, and Prophets, for God has 
avenged you on her. 

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, 
and threw it into the sea. ‘ So, he cried, ‘shall Babylon, the 
Great City, be violently overthrown, zever more to be seen. No 
more shall the music of harpers, minstrels, fluteplayers, or 
trumpeters de heard in you ; no more shall any worker, skilled 
in any art, be found in you; no more shall the sound of the mill 
be heard in you; no more shall the “ight of a lamp shine in 
you; no more shall the voices of bridegroom and bride be heard 
in you. Your merchants were the great men of the earth, for all 
the nations were deceived by your magical charms. . Yes, and 
in her was to be found the blood of the Prophets and of 
pets People, and of all who have been put to death wpon 
earth. 


After all this, I heard what seemed to be loud voices from a 
great throng in Heaven, which said— 


Dan. 4. 30; Ezek. 26.17. U Ezek. 27. 36, 31. 138 Ezek. 27. 13. 15 Ezek. 27. 36, 31. 
MW £zek. 27. ae 18 Ezek. 27. 32. 19 Ezek. 27. 30—31, 36, 33, 93 26. 19. 
20 Deut. 32. 43. er. 51. 63—04; Ezek. 26.21; Dan. 4.30. 22 Ezek. 26. 13. 
22—23 Yer. 25. 10 (Hebrew). *3°%sa. 23. 83 473 Ge 24 Fer. 51. 49. 
1 Ps. 104. 35- 


Io 


20 


21 


22 


23 


24, 


19 


508 REVELATION OF JOHN, 419. 


‘Praise the Lord! To our God belong Salvation, Glory, 
and Power, for true and just are his judgements, For he 
passed judgement on the great Prostitute who was cor- 
rupting the earth by her licentiousness, and he ‘ook 
vengeance upon her for the blood of his servants, 


Again the voices cried—‘ Praise the Lord!’ And the smoke 
Jrom her ruins rises for ever and ever. Then the twenty-four 
Senators and the four Creatures prostrated themselves and 
worshipped God who was seated upon the throne. ‘Amen,’ 
they cried, ‘ Praise the Lord!’ ; while from the throne there 
came a voice which said— 


‘ Praise our God all you who serve him, 
You who reverence him, both high and low? 


Then I heard what seemed like the voices of a great throng, 
and “ike the sound of many waters, and like the sound of loud 
peals of thunder, all saying— 


‘Praise the Lord! The Lord is King, our God, the 
Almighty. Let us rejoice and exult; and we will pay him 
honour, for the hour for the Marriage of the Lamb has 
come, and his Wife has made herself ready. She has 
been permitted to dress herself in fine linen, clean and 
glistening, and the linen is the good deeds of Christ's 
People.’ 


Then a voice said to me ‘ Write this—“ Happy are those who 
have been invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.” These 
words of God,’ said the voice, ‘are true.’ I prostrated 
myself at his feet to worship him, but he said to me— Do not 
do that; I am your fellow-servant, and the fellow-servant of 
your Brothers who bear their testimony to Jesus. Worship 
God. For to bear testimony to Jesus demands the inspiration 
of a Prophet.’ 

I next saw that Heaven lay open. There appears a white 
horse ; its rider is called ‘ Faithful’ and ‘True’ ; with justice he 
judges and makes war. is eyes are flaming fires ; on his head 
he wears many royal crowns, and upon him is written a name, 
which no one knows but himself ; he is dressed in a robe that 
has been sprinkled with blood; and he is called ‘The Word 
of God.’ The armies of Heaven followed him, mounted on 
white horses and clothed in fine linen, white and clean. From 
his mouth comes a sharp sword, with which to smite the 
nations ; and he will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the 
grapes in the press of the fiercely maddening wine of Almighty 


2 Ps.19. 9; 119. 137; Deut. 32. 43; 2 Kings 9. 7. 3 Isa. 34. 10. 3—4 Ps. 104. 35. 
4 Isa.6.1; Ps. 47.8. 5 Ps. 134.1; 135.13 22. 23; 315. 13. 6 Dan. 10. 65 
‘sek 1.24; 43. 2(Hebrew); Ps. 104. 35; 93-13 99.13 Amos 4. 13 (Septuagint). 


6—7 Ps.g7.1. WU Esek.1.1; Ps. 96. 13. 12 Dan. 10. 6. Jsa. 11. 45 PS. 2. 8—95 


Foel 3. 13; Amos 4. 13 (Septuagint). 


10 


II 
12 
13 


14 
15 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 19—20. 509 


God; and on his robe and on his thigh he has this name 
written—‘ KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.’ 

Then I saw an angel standing on the sun. He cried aloud 
to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven—‘ Gather together, and 
come to the great feast of God, to eat the flesh of kings, com- 
manders, and mighty men, and the flesh of horses and their 
riders, and the flesh alike of free men and slaves, and of high 
and low.’ 

Then I saw the Beast and all the £2ngs of the earth and their 
armies, all gathered together to fight with him who sat on the 
horse and with his army. The Beast was captured, and with 
him was taken the false Prophet, who performed the marvels 
before the eyes of the Beast, with which he deceived those 
who had received the brand of the Beast and those who 
worshipped his image. They were thrown alive, both of them, 
into the fiery lake of burning sulphur. The rest were killed by 
the sword which came out of the mouth of him who sat upon 
the horse ; and al/ the birds fed upon their flesh. 

Then I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, with the 
key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He 
seized the Dragon, “#e primeval Serpent (that is the Devil or 
Satan), and bound him in chains for a thousand years. He 
flung him into the bottomless pit and locked the door of it, 
and set his seal upon it, to prevent his deceiving the nations 
any more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he 
must be set free for a little while. 

Then Z saw some thrones, and to those who took their seats 
on them authority to act as judges was entrusted. And I saw 
the souls of those who had been beheaded on account of the 
testimony about Jesus and on account of God’s Message, 
since they had refused to worship the Beast or its image, and 
had not received the brand upon their foreheads and upon 
their hands. They were restored to life, and they reigned 
with the Christ for a thousand years. (The rest of the dead 
were not restored to life till the thousand years were ended.) 
This is the First Resurrection. Happy and holy will be those 
who share in that First Resurrection. The second Death has 
no power over them; no, they will be priests of God and the 
Christ, and they will reign with him for the thousand years. 

When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be set free 
from his prison, and he will come out to deceive the heathen 
nations that live in the four corners of the earth, such as Gog and 
Magog. He will come to gather them together for battle ; and 
their number will be as great as the sand on the sea-shore. 
They went up over the breadth of the whole land, and surrounded 


16 Deut. 10. 17; Dan. 2. 47. VW—I8 Ezek. 39. 17—18, 20. 19 Ps. 2. 2 
20 Gen. 19. 24; Isa. 30. 33; Ezek. 38. 22. 21 Ezek. 39. 17—18, 20. 2 Gen. 3.1; 
Zech. 3. 1—2 {Septuagint and ee eorey): 4 Dan. 7. g—10, 22. §& Jsa. 61. & 
8 Ezek. 7. 2; 38.2. 9 Hab. 3 Fer. 11.15; 12.7; 2 Kings 1. to. 


16 


17 
18 


a9 


20 


21 


20 


510 REVELATION OF JOHN, 20—21. 


the camp of Christ’s People and the city that they love. Then 
Jire fell from the heavens and consumed them; and the Devil, 
their deceiver, was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, 
where the Beast and the false Prophet already were, and they 
will be tortured day and night for ever and ever. 


Then Z saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on 
it. Zhe earth and the heavens fled from his presence; no 
wus left for them. Next I saw the dead, high and low alike, 
standing before the throne ; and some books were opened. Then 
another 4004 was opened, the Book of Life; and the dead were 
judged, according to their actions, by what was written in the 
books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death 
and the Lord of the Place of Death gave up their dead; and 
they were all judged in turn according to their actions. Then 
Death and the Lord of the Place of Death were hurled into the 
lake of fire. This is the Second Death—the lake of fire; and 
all whose names were not found to have been written in the Book 
of Life were hurled into the lake of fire. 


VIII.—THE NEw CREATION. 


Then I saw new heavens and a new earth, The former 
heavens and the former earth had passed away ; and the sea 
has ceased tobe. And I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, de- 
scending out of Heaven from God, /ke a bride adorned and ready 
for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice from the throne, 
which said—‘ See / the Tabernacle of God is set up among men. 
God will dwell among them, and they will be his Peoples, and God 


himself wz// be among them, and he will wipe all tears from their — 
eyes. There will be no more death, nor will there be any more’ 


grief or crying or pain. The old order has passed away.’ Then 
he who was seated on the throne said—' See, J make everything 
new! Write this,’ he added, ‘for these words may be r 
on and are true. Then he said to me—‘ They are fulfilled. I 
am both Alpha and Omega, at once the beginning and the end. 
To the thirsty 1 will give a draught from the spring of the Water 
of Life, freely. Those who conquer will enter into possession of 
these things, and J will be their God, and they shall be my sons. 
But as for cowards, unbelievers, the degraded, murderers, the 
impure, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars—their place will be in 
the burning lake of fire axd sulphur. That is the Second Death,’ 
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, and 
were laden with the seven last Curses, came and spoke to me. 
10 Gen. 19. 24; Ezek. 38.22. U /sa.6.1; Dan. 7.9; Ps. 114. 7,3; Dan. 2. 35 
(Chaldzean). 12 Dan.7.10; Ps. 69. 28. 12-13 Ps, 28. 4; 62. 12; Yer. 17. 10 
5 Dan. 12. 1; Ps. 69. 28. 1 Jsa. 65. 17; 66. 22. 2 Jsa. 52. 13 61. 10, 
8 Ezek. 37. 27; Zech. 2. 1o—11; Jsa. 8. 8. 4dsa. 25. 8; Fer. 3x. 16; 


Isa. 65.19, 17- 5 Jsa.6.1; Ps. 47.8; Jsa. 43.19 8 Isa. 55.1; Zeck. by 8. 
72 Sam. 7. 14; Ps. 89.26. 8 Gen. 19.24; Jsa. 30.33; Zsek. 38. 22. 9 Lev. 26. at. 


10 


It 


12 


13 
14 
15 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 21—22. 544 


‘Come here,’ he said, ‘and I will show you the Bride, the 
Wife of the Lamb. He carried me away in a trance on fo a 
great high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the Holy City, 
descending out of Heaven from God, filled with the glory of 
God. Its brilliance was like that of some very precious stone, 
like a jasper, transparent as crystal. It had a great high wall, 
in which were twelve gates; and at these gates there were 
twelve angels, and there were zames inscribed on the gates, the 
names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites. There were three 
gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three 
on the west. The wall of the City had twelve foundation 
stones, on which were the twelve names of the twelve Apostles 
of the Lamb. 

The angel who was speaking to me had as a measure a gold 
rod, with which to measure the City and its gates and wall 
The City is sguare; the length and breadth are the same. 
The angel measured with his rod; it was twelve hundred 
miles ; its length, breadth, and height are equal. Then he 
measured the wall ; it was two hundred and eighty-eight feet, as 
men measure, that is as the angel measured. The material of 
the wall of the City was jasper, and the City was built of pure 
gold, which shone like clear glass. The foundations of the 
wall of the City were ornamented with every kind of 
precious stone. he first foundation stone was a jasper; 
the second a sapphire; the third a chalcedony; the 
fourth an emerald; the fifth a sardonyx; the sixth a car- 
nelian; the seventh a chrysolite; the eighth a beryl; the 
ninth a topaz; the tenth a chrysoprase; the eleventh a 
hyacinth; and the twelfth an amethyst. The twelve 
gates were made of twelve pearls, each gate of one pearl. 
The street of the City was of pure gold, transparent as 
glass. I did not see any Temple in the City, for the 
Lord, our God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its Temple. 
The City has no need of che sun or the moon to shine upon it, for 
the glory of God had illuminated it, and the Lamb is its lamp. 
The nations walk by the light of it ; and the kings of the earth bring 
their glory into it. Its gates well never be shut in the day, and 
there will be no zzght there. And there will be brought into 
it the glory and honour of the nations. Never shall any un- 
hallowed thing enter it, nor those who act dishonourably or 
falsely, but only those whose names have been written in the Lamb's 
Book of Life. Then the angel showed me a river of the water 
of Life, as clear as crystal, issuing from the throne of God and 


20 


21 


the Lamb, ix the middie of the street of the City. Ox each side of 2 


10 Ezek. 40. 1—2; Isa. 52. 1. M1 Isa. 58.8; 60. r—2, 19. 12—13 Ezek. 48. 31-34 
(Hebrew). U—li Ezek. 40. 3, 5. 16 Ezek. 43. 16. 18-19 Isa. 54. 11—12. 
22 Amos 4. 13 (Septuagint). 23—%5 fsa. 60. 1—3, 6, to—11, 13, 19. 4 Ps. 89. 27. 
2 Isa. 52.1; Dan.12.1; Ps. 69.28. 1Zech.14.8. 1—2 Gen. 2.g—10; 3. 22; 
L£zek. 47. 1, 7, 12. 


22 


512 REVELATION OF JOHN, 22. 


the river was a Tree of Life which bore twelve crops of fruit, 
producing one crop each month; the leaves of the tree served 
as a cure for the nations. very thing that is accursed will 
cease to be, The throne of God and of the Lamb will be 
within it, and his servants will worship him; (they wi 
see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night 
will cease to be. They have no need of the light of alam 
nor have they the /ight of the sun; for the Lord God will 4 
their Aight, and they will reign for ever and ever, 


IX.—CONCLUSION. 


Then the angel said to me—‘ These words may be relied 
upon and are true. The Lord, who is the God that inspires 
the Prophets, sent his angel to show his servants what must 
take place before long; and he added “JZ am coming soon.” 
Happy will those be who lay to heart the words of the pro- 
phecy contained in this book.’ 

It was I, John, who heard and saw these things; and when 
I heard and saw them, I prostrated myself in worship at the 
feet of the angel that showed them to me. But he said to 
me—‘Do not do that; I am your fellow-servant, and the 
fellow-servant of your Brothers, the Prophets, and of all who 
lay to heart the words in this book. Worship God,’ 

Then the angel said to me—‘ Do not 4eep secret the words of 
the prophecy contained in this 600%. The éime for their fulfil- 
ment is close at hand. Let the wrong-doer continue to do 
wrong; the filthy-minded man continue to be filthy; the 
upright man continue to act uprightly ; and the holy-minded 
man continue to be holy.’ (‘Z am coming soon,’ says a 
voice. ‘I shall bring my vewards with me, so as to give every 
one just what their actions deserve. I am both Alpha and 
Omega, I am before all and after all, both the beginning and 
the end.’) ‘Happy will those be who wash their robes ; 
then will they have the right to approach ‘the Tree of Life, and 
to enter the City by the gates. Outside will be the filthy, the 
sorcerers, the impure, the murderers, the idolaters, and all who 
love what is false and act upon it.’ 

‘I, Jesus, sent my angel to bear testimony to you about these 
things before the Churches. I am ¢ke Scion and the Offspring 
of David, the bright Star of the morning, 


‘Come,’ say the Spirit and the Bride; and let all who hear 
say ‘Come. Let those who are thirsting come; let those who 
wish take the Water of Life freely. 

B Ztcthe Ufo Ik © £5,537, 1% 5 Jsa. 60. 19; Dan. 7. 18. 6 Dan, 2.28. 
7 Isa. 40.10. 10 Dan. 12. 4. Isa. 40. 10; Ps. 28. 4; 62. 12; Pi 17. 10. 
13 Zsa. 44. 6 (Hebrew); 48. 12 (Hebrew). 14 Gen. 49.11; 29; 3 22 Is. IIs 10. 
MW Isa. 55.1; Zech. 14. 8 


nt WwW 


16 


17 


REVELATION OF JOHN, 22, 518 


I say emphatically to all who hear ¢he words of the prophecy 
contained in this book—‘ If anyone adds zo zt, God will add 7 
his troubles the Curses that have been described in this book ; 
and if anyone fakes away any of the words in the book 
containing this prophecy, God will take away his share of the 
Tree of Life, and of the Holy City—as described in this book.’ 


He whose testimony this is says—‘ Assuredly I am coming 
soon.’ ‘Amen, come, Lord Jesus.’ 

May the blessing of Jesus Christ, the Lord, be with his 
People. 


18—19 Deut. 4.23 12,32; 29.20. 19 Gen. 2.93 3.22 


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